Re:live
by redskiez
Summary: When bits of a life you didn't know you have lived slip through your current one, things do tend to get a little bit complicated. Obito wakes up on his desk at his school, but everything's flipped. What is a dream and what is reality? Everything's converging all at once and he must relive it all to understand. [Complete]
1. Re:member

With the gentle whisper wind ruffling his short hair, tickling his forehead, Obito blinks open his eyes and jerks the moment the feeling of resting his cheek against a hardwood table comes rushing back to him.

He squeezes his eyes shut and sits back up, his back complaining when he does. There are sounds of birds calling from outside the window beside him, and Obito rubs his right cheek as he turns to look out of the transparent pane, wincing when his neck complains from having slept facing one direction for a period of time.

The moment is lost to him, as expected from anyone when waking up from an unexpected nap. Obito licks his lip, catching any saliva that might have leaked from his lips for pressing half his face against the table. The right side of his face feels numb, too.

A sudden moment of panic arises inside of him when he realizes he's not wearing his mask. He takes a deep breath and feels his heartbeat raise. But when Obito looks around, soaking in the scenery of a classroom around him, with classmates chattering with one another over their lunch boxes, Obito's panic dies as quickly as it raises.

No, it is all a dream. Obito is known for having strange, strange dreams. He's not even surprised that he had one just now. Standing up, Obito rubs his face again and shakes his head, trying to get the last of the lingering sleep from clouding his head.

What a silly dream, a world full of supernatural 'ninja' with powers that look like they came out of some superhero comic book.

Craning his neck, Obito peers over various students' shoulders, looking for someone but he cannot seem to remember who he is looking for. Shaking his head for acting dumb, he leaves his seat at the grumble of his stomach, searching for food.

There's a person - no, two people - coming to mind the moment he feels like he needs someone to rely on.

"Yo," the familiar voice fills his ears and he turns to find a rather worryingly pale boy sitting next to a significantly tanner boy. They might be identical twins, but rare times it is for people to be unable to tell one from the other.

Jozetsu's eyes wrinkle into a smile when he notices the red mark on Obito's cheek. He raises a hand, letting go of his sandwich, and pokes at his own cheek. "Fell asleep in class again?"

Obito raises his own hand to rub at the spot, the numbness having gone away but still evident enough to make Obito wince at the feeling. He sits down in front of the twins, feeling their gaze follow his movements. He scratches at the dried spit spot at the corner of his mouth when he feels it. "Yeah," he mumbles. "And I forgot to bring lunch."

"Tch," Dokuzetsu clicks his tongue and reaches into his lunch bag, grabbing a spare sandwich from it. "I was saving it for after-school, so you owe me for this one."

"Thanks, bud," Obito grins, taking the sandwich from Dokuzetsu's hand. "You always have my back against terrible canteen food."

As they eat, Obito sits in silence while the twins chatter among themselves. He doesn't really pay attention, but there are a few words that catch within his mind, which trigger a set of images in his mind. They flash behind his eyes and he blinks in confusion, looking up at his two friends.

"Are ya going to the café later? I heard they have a new menu," Jozetsu is saying through a mouthful of bread, not bothering to even push back in a stray piece of lettuce that slips out from his lips.

"No," Dokuzetsu grunts out, putting down his sandwich to talk. "I promised Principal Ōtsutsuki that I'd stay after school to help work on the art exhibition today."

"Art exhibition?" Obito pipes up.

"Yah," Jozetsu says cheerily.

"Have you been sleeping with your eyes open and your ears closed?" Dokuzetsu hisses. "We've been talking about this for weeks, now."

Obito frowns, the memory coming back to him in bits and pieces. "Ah, you're right," he says when his brain connects pieces of memories that seem to have been forged just at that moment. "Sorry. I've been... There's been a lot of things on my mind recently."

"I thought we've already established that it's not healthy for you to think, Tobi," Dokuzetsu scoffs.

"That's your brother," Obito grins, brushing off the insult. They fall back into a momentary silence as they try to eat, and Obito replays the earlier conversation in his mind.

An art exhibition? He feels as though he knows someone who's passionate about art... Rather passionate, actually, if he'd say so himself.

But there's something wrong with his knowledge. He searches his mind as to exactly why he thinks he knows someone from a completely different department than he is studying in, and the logical conclusion is that he shouldn't know anyone.

For some reason, Obito finds himself backtracking on his own life, a life he's supposedly have lived and shouldn't need confirmation on.

He isn't from here, no. He moved to Tokyo because his grandparents decided it, or something. He thinks he was too young to understand how things work and the exact reason behind the move. He originally didn't like the move because it caused him to be separated from his best friends, but for some reason, he changed his mind about it.

Why? Obito's eyebrows furrows as he tries to recall, then almost flinches physically when he remembers. His best friend at the time, Hatake Kakashi, had been accused of causing Rin to commit suicide. He thinks he has a close relationship with Rin, but he for reason doesn't really know for sure.

Maybe he had a crush on her. He strangely doesn't remember, especially after that strange dream that is continuing to fade from his mind.

Obito swallows his bite of sandwich and looks up at Dokuzetsu, scrunching up his expression as if what he's about to say is paining him already. "The art exhibition... Can I help with it?"

Dokuzetsu almost chokes on his own food, his mouth hanging open as he watches his friend from across the table. "You?" Dokuzetsu frowns. "But you're a business student."

"So?" Obito waves his hand dismissively. "You're not an art student."

Dokuzetsu frowns, his eyebrows furrowing, but he nods stiffly once. "Fine, we could use the extra help anyway."

"Then why did you wave me away?" Obito laughs.

"Forget it," Dokuzetsu stands up, wolfing down the rest of his sandwich. "I'll be going first."

Obito watches him go, blinking dumbly. "What's up with him?" he asks Jozetsu when the grimmer twin is out of earshot. "Did I offend him, or something?"

"Nah," Jozetsu shakes his head, his dyed green hair bouncing. "Dunno what's going through his mind these days, but he ain't mad at you."

"Alright," Obito nods, watching the staircase where Dokuzetsu disappeared into.

"By the way, Tobi, why do you have a sudden interest in the art exhibition?" Jozetsu asks, genuinely curious. "You don't seem the type to be able to appreciate art, and actually, I think I remember that you said you don't even like it."

"Er," Obito scratches the back of his neck, suddenly finding himself unable to respond to Jozetsu, his brain telling him it's something that doesn't happen often.

As he searches for an appropriate response, Jozetsu eats his sandwich slowly and watches Obito with curious eyes. There's something gleaming behind his amber eyes, something that stirs a foreboding feeling inside of Obito; something that Obito realizes he's familiar with, but at the same time, he couldn't place a finger on it.

Why does he think the sick, twisting of his gut a familiar feeling? He frowns, lowering his hand.

"I just feel like it, I think," Obito says slowly. "I'm always cooped up in the classroom and refusing to join any school activities, so maybe I'd try this year."

"It's your last year, though," Jozetsu comments.

"Yes, it is," Obito nods. "Which is why I want to try this year."

"Oki-doki, Tobi!" Jozetsu grins wide, his signature grin. His voice is sing-song, too, which at the same time annoys Obito but sends a wave of strange nostalgia through his body.

He smiles at him because Obito thinks it's a good idea, but he makes sure the smile doesn't reach his eyes. Jozetsu physically looks like it pains him to smile the same smile back like he doesn't understand why he's doing it.

Obito has always been closer to the cheerier one of the two.

"I'll get back to class, now," Obito says, finishing his sandwich with a particularly wide bite and stands. "See you."

"Bye-bye!" Jozetsu's smile returns to his original one, the wide, shit-eating grin.

As he walks down the hall, he realizes he's not even paying attention to the area around him. Obito's just walking by using the subconsciousness he doesn't even realize he has. He's already standing at the front door by the time he notices. Obito glances at the classroom tag, taking note of it in case he breaks his autopilot again.

He knows he will not be able to find his way back if he's conscious.

Heading back to his own table, he gets stopped in his tracks on the way.

"Obito," his cousin - Itachi, his name is Itachi - raises a hand and shoves a book into his arms. "Sorry I took your textbook without asking, but I wrote down what they're testing on in there if you're interested."

Confusion clouds his expression until another memory sparks within him, causing him to become expressionless again. "Right," he says, flipping open the textbook and taking a look inside. It feels foreign in his hands, the contents inside fresh and new. But his own notes and the softness of the plastic-like textbook paper says otherwise. When he reads the words, he grimaces lightly at the knowledge that suddenly floods inside his brain.

He's not a straight A student, but he's also good enough to have a genius like Itachi to ask him for help.

"Thanks," Obito says, waving the textbook after closing it. He wants to sidestep Itachi and head back to his desk, the knowledge of having a test next period popping into his mind, but Itachi stops him again.

"Wait," he says, crossing his arms and positioning himself in front of Obito again. He leans his head down, stepping closer to Obito as if he has something he wants to say, but doesn't think he could. "They've been saying... They've been saying Orochimaru's back."

Obito frowns. "That doesn't concern me."

Itachi sighs, fidgeting. "Rumor has it Sasuke's been... dealing with him."

He frowns, a dark cloud coming over him. "I don't care," he says. "He's not my little brother. You deal with him."

Itachi's lips press into a thin line, but he doesn't otherwise show any displeasure at Obito's obvious indifference. "You're right," he says. "I just want him to be able to support himself. I didn't mean to push him this way."

"Then why not talk to him, hmm? You're just making matters worse by pretending you're his enemy," Obito says, already stepping away from Itachi and towards his desk. Itachi moves to follow him, standing next to Obito even when the other boy is disinterested and already sitting down to study.

"And what would you have me say? I need him to have a target to chase, that's the only way I can ensure he'll be able to take care of himself," Itachi mutters. "Things haven't been easy with mother out of town and father constantly only thinking he's in my shadow."

Obito sighs heavily, reaching for his notebook inside his book bag. He pulls it out and slaps it on the table, the noise causing Itachi to flinch. There's a reason why Itachi is afraid of him, even if Itachi is one of the most treasured pets of all teachers in the school.

"You know I can't help," Obito says.

"I know," Itachi whispers. "I just wanted at least someone to know."

"Why not Kisame?"

"I don't trust him with these things, even if he's a good friend," Itachi replies.

"You misplace your trust," Obito grins with a hint of malice.

"I know more than you think," Itachi smiles back, expression too blank for even Obito's all-seeing gaze to decipher.

He stands there for a moment, his hands in his pockets and watching Obito with something shimmering underneath the same onyx eyes the entire family has. It unnerves Obito, but at the same time, he couldn't react to it.

"Are you... dreaming, right now?" Itachi asks suddenly.

"What?" Obito blinks.

"Hm? Oh, nothing," Itachi says, as if he has forgotten he asked something in the first place, even though it isn't even half a second ago. "See ya."

Itachi takes his leave then, waving a little goodbye to his cousin. Obito doesn't see him out, still weirded out by the entire situation. He opens his notebook and scans through the pages, his own handwriting reminding him that he has been studying business and economy for coming three years now.

But as he flips through the pages, he notices there are doodles and words that seem out of place. Diagrams that are not charts, designs that have nothing to do with the graphs to calculate income and profit.

The words make little sense on their own, but Obito notices that if he compiles them together, they form the exact scene of his earlier dream. Wilderness mixed with technology, humans with powers.

Has he dreamed this dream before? It'd make sense for him to have, since while in the dreamscape, Obito felt at home and at ease, like he has lived like that for more than thirty years.

It felt like a story, too. Obito thinks he remembers the exact moment before he wakes up, as well. He takes his pen and opens a new page in his notebook, scribbling with his best artistic ability to draw what he remembers.

A bright, white scene, in the shape of a star with the moon at the tip.

He draws something else, too. A crude image of a person with long hair covering their left eye.

He doesn't even know if it's a female and male.

He doesn't have any colored pens, so he settles for only scribbling the eyes blue. He stares into them, his art a thousand miles away from the image he has in his mind.

Those eyes bore into him, and he closes his notes, opting to just study from his textbook. But try as he might, after permanently securing his foothold on the bridge between reality and fantasy, those eyes keep coming back to haunt him.

He doesn't think he does well in his test, but then again, he knows he's not a straight A student. Once the bell rings and school is over for the day, Obito grabs his books and the rest of whatever he thinks he needs and darts out of the classroom.

He thinks he hears someone calling after him as if to ask him a question, but he ignores it and heads down the stairs. The canteen is already bustling with people who want to get a snack before leaving school, or those waiting to have their extra curriculum activities started. More students pour down as the seconds go on and Obito has to push his way through the crowd to break into the schoolyard.

There are those who hang around the schoolyard, tossing a basketball toward one another. They're not officially playing a game, but still, they shout at Obito for running across their field, saying how the ball's going to hit his head if he forgets to bring his eyes out to public again.

Cutting through the schoolyard is the fastest way to head to the art department, anyway. And Obito, for some reason, trusts he has quick enough resources to be able to dodge any incoming balls thrown his way.

He makes it through the schoolyard no problem and is shocked to find Dokuzetsu already standing at the entrance of the art building.

"You look like you're running away from a murderer," Dokuzetsu comments, raising an eyebrow. "Are you really that eager to help out?"

"Hell yeah," Obito says, shifting his weight and making his schoolbag bounce in his hands.

"Right..." One half of the twins says slowly, watching him with his cold amber eyes. "Well, you'll be helping the artists. You're going to ask them if they need any extra equipment with displaying their artwork, or if they need help taking pictures for their handbook. They're also supposed to hand in their arts' descriptions."

"Oh, okay," Obito says. "Can I take a look around the art exhibition, first?"

Dokuzetsu stops what he's doing, which is taking out a piece of paper from his own pile. The paper is stuck in the middle of the stack and then yanked out in a harsh move. "Fine. Don't ruin anything in there. Some artworks are already on display but there aren't any restrictions around them yet."

"I'll be careful," Obito nods, taking the piece of paper when Dokuzetsu hands it to him. "You know I will."

"I don't know that," he hisses, then promptly leaves the area, leaving Obito alone.

The Uchiha just hopes he won't run into Principle Ōtsutuki while wandering around here. He doesn't really want to face the monster of a principal today - or any day.

Obito adjusts the strap of his bag and walks into the art exhibition, the piece of paper getting crumbled in his hand with the force of his grip. He looks around slowly, scanning his gaze over everything.

He pauses at a large display of three humanoid wooden sculptures, held up by strings above. The middle wooden sculpture looks as though it is the child of the two other sculptures. The three are positioned in a hug, their limbs still and cold, though the child looks content. Watching closely, Obito feels as though they might come to life at any second, moving to either tighten the embrace or let it go.

Eerie, but deep. Obito tries to look for a description but remembers that it's not complete yet, and he's supposed to actually collect the descriptions from the art students. He'll keep in mind to read this when he has the writing in hand.

Moving away, Obito heads over to the middle, noticing something white. He is immediately drawn to it and he scans the large collection made out of pure white clay.

They're mostly birds of prey, wings outstretched, frozen in action. They look familiar but there is no way he'd seen these anywhere. He doesn't stalk art blogs or art sites. He doesn't go out of his way to visit art museums, or even walk into one of the school's own displays.

Quite frankly, this is his first actual art experience.

He wants to reach out to stroke the soft white clay, but he remembers Dokuzetsu's warning and steels his arm by his side. As he continues to observe the still work, he overhears a couple of students next to him talk.

"That Deidara guy isn't really going to destroy all of this by the time the show begins, right?" a girl asks, leaning closer to a sculpture of a red kite wrapping its wings around a smaller yellow bird, looking like its nurturing it, protecting it. "These looks way too pretty to be destroyed. How can he have the heart to?"

"It's his art philosophy," her short-haired friend replies. "'Nothing lasts forever because life is fleeting.' Something like that. You remember? He likes explosion, too, and he had a huge fight with the school when they forbid him from using explosive clay on school grounds."

The girl lets out a long sigh. "But these birds look like they're in love! I don't want to see them burn."

"Er, love is fleeting?" her friend shrugs. "You won't do good complimenting his work. We all know he'll never be interested in you."

"Such a shame," the girl says, shaking her head. "He looks cute."

"Don't let him hear you saying that," her friend laughs. "He'd probably come running over and start yelling at you."

"Hotheadedness is cute!"

Their voices start to fade as they begin to move onto another exhibition, chattering along the way. Obito stares after them with a confused expression, walking over to the piece they were staring at with unsure footsteps.

Deidara... That name seems so unnervingly familiar to him, but he couldn't for his life remember having heard or known such a name.

How weird, he thinks, as he leans down to admire the details of the sculpture more closely. It indeed is a sculpture of two birds, one seemingly protecting the other. He tries again in vain to look for an artist's description to explain the meaning of the artwork, but like the earlier wooden sculptures, he remembers he's supposed to be collecting them.

Letting out a puff of air through his lips, Obito turns and begins to actually start his work. He hasn't loitered around too long, but he worries Dokuzetsu wouldn't agree to allow him to help anymore if he doesn't actually show effectiveness. He also doesn't want that grim man to talk bad about him to Principal Ōtsutuki, his name is black enough already.

He was quite the idiot while in the first few years of school. The whole incident with Kakashi and Rin sort of... fixed him physically and mentally, he supposes now that he recalls. It was the beginning of his footing with other of his friends here at school, anyway. Before he made friends with the head prefects Pein and Konan, Obito knew they were jotting down every single rule break he ever committed, even if it's as trivial as sitting down and his pant leg hiking up to reveal skin.

But of course, they're best of buds now.

Obito manages to find the way out of the exhibition with another exit, keeping in mind of what the girls said about Deidara. The name is just so familiar to him as if it fits perfectly on his tongue. He could feel its weight even if he's just thinking about it like it could spill past his lips at any moment and he'd be perfectly fine with it.

But he doesn't know a Deidara. Nor has he ever heard of a Deidara in school. He, in fact, doesn't remember the whole fighting incident with the said artist and the school. Has he been dreaming the whole time?

What kind of life is he living, if he couldn't even remember half the things he'd done and experienced? Has he really been living his life with a clouded mind and with his eyes closed? That's not possible. Everything that he makes himself remember... He knows they're real. They feel too real. Whatever he experienced has shaped him into the man he is today, there's no doubt about it.

Despite that... so did the dream. The dream felt real, too.

Clicking his tongue, Obito takes a sharp turn left as he follows the classroom tags, eventually finding the sculpting room of the art department. There sure are a lot of rooms for the art department... This school focuses more on its artistic talents than anything else. It's one of the more popular art schools in Tokyo, Obito remembers, most of its art students entered higher education and jobs later on in life.

Obito stops in front of the door, noticing it's already open. He grips the paper tighter, his hands having slipped into his pockets while he was walking over here. He peeks into the room, seeing a person leave through the back door and another person entering a room that Obito has no idea what is used for.

"You better stop talking like that, brat, or you'll find yourself unconscious within a pile of wooden puppets," the only person that hasn't moved is saying in the middle of the room, sitting in front of a wooden sculpture. The redhead is sanding the wood, blowing away the dust as he watches the surface closely.

He faces away from Obito, so he couldn't see his face, but his voice sounds irritated.

"Sure, whatever you say, my man," another voice comes from the room Obito saw someone walk into, so he assumes it's the same person. "I know you love me way too much to actually hurt me, hm."

"Don't be so full of yourself," the redhead scoffs, tossing the used sandpaper in his hand away and moves to grab a new sheet. "I'm not interested in your kind."

"I'm hurt, yeah," the same person replies, walking out of the room, carrying a large box of clay.

"I didn't know you had a heart to get hurt by," the redhead says matter-of-factly, despite it clearly being a joke. Wow, Obito thinks as he watches the back of the redhead with unimpressed eyes. Must be exciting to be that guy's friend.

He turns his gaze toward the person who exited the room, his breath stopping when he notices the long blonde hair. His heart surges up in his throat and the mental image of the blonde with blue eyes slips back into his mind, and for a moment Obito isn't standing in front of the sculpture room, he's in some wilderness.

The path he's walking on is worn with use and so he follows it. He hears footsteps behind him and he turns to see who it is.

It's the same blonde. The person looks unimpressed and flicks some hair away from their face, tucking some strands behind their ear. Obito continues to stare, forgetting to walk already.

The person notices before they even got close, and Obito yearns to be just a little closer to see their expression just a little better.

He sees their mouth open to talk, but Obito couldn't hear anything because he's standing back in front of the room.

Swallowing audibly, Obito enters the room without really announcing his presence. The two art students don't seem to notice him, still chattering among themselves.

"I can't believe you, hm," the blonde says, his voice so deep yet his hair so long. What is even happening?

"Um," Obito speaks up finally, already standing so close to the two artists that they jump at the sound of his voice. "Excuse me..."

"What the fuck?" the blonde shouts, dropping a handful of clay back into the box he'd carried out earlier. "Who the shit are you, yeah?"

"Um," Obito blinks at the blonde, taking in the dirtied hands and the equally dirty apron, and the awkward grunting speech pattern. "I'm Uchiha Obito."

"What are you doing here?" the redhead asks in the same monotone voice. He's still sanding his work.

"I'm here to help... I'm supposed to collect your artists' descriptions and write down any requests you might need for your artworks' display..." Obito says, unsure, as he glances back and forth between the two young artists.

"Right..." the blonde watches him with narrowed eyes, and it's then that Obito realizes he has those same blue eyes. Those stunning blue eyes. The blue eyes that hold such mystery and intense emotions. Obito tries to smile at the artist but feels as though the gaze is judging him.

He recalls his crude drawing, and he winces at the thought. Maybe not think of it when he's surrounded by artistically talented people, where their 'doodles' are better than anything he spends five hours on.

But the face he saw in his dream, and just now in that weird vision... There's no doubt about it. But...

"You're a guy?" Obito blurts out.

"What are you - of course I'm a guy, hm!" the blonde flushes, waving his arm. He clicks his tongue, casting a blazing glance at his fellow art student before directing that same furious gaze onto Obito. "You better fucking remember that, yeah."

The heat in his eyes is so comforting even though he's sure this fiery blonde can kill him if he tried. He's seen this before. He's always the receiving side of his anger... he's always the one enticing the anger.

"Who are you?" Obito asks.

"Jeez, are you for real?" the artist shakes his head, crossing his arms now. "Basuto Deidara, I'm pretty famous, yeah."

"Infamous," the redhead speaks up, throwing away another piece of sandpaper. He stands, but he doesn't reach even Obito's shoulders. The redhead holds out his hand, small and soft for someone who's working rough work with wood. "Suzuki Sasori, or you can call me Sasori of the Red Sand. Everyone does."

Obito takes his hand, shaking it. He still looks dazed as Deidara's name bounces around his head. Deidara. The name... It stirs something within him that Obito doesn't understand.

"No one does, hm," Deidara whispers, an unamused tone in his voice. "He just calls himself that."

"Shut your mouth, or else your life is really going to be 'fleeting' like your art," Sasori snaps, turning from the scene and heading toward a desk.

"Blah blah blah, yeah," Deidara sneers after him, waving a fist.

Obito just stands there, like the dumb person he is. Deidara watches him for a moment before walking off, also heading toward a desk. He ferts for a second, wondering why the two artists had just left him without saying another thing until he realizes they're both rifling through their bags and grabbing what he presumes is their statements for their artworks.

Sasori heads back first since Deidara is struggling more with trying not to make his bag dirty. "My statements," he clarifies Obito's original assumption. "All four should be in there."

"Thanks," Obito nods, grabbing the stack of paper and carries it with the piece of paper Dokuzetsu gave him.

"I'll need extra lights for this one," Sasori continues, jabbing his thumb toward the sculpture he had been sanding when Obito entered the room. "And more fish wires for my first piece. It's older than the rest and I can tell it's not going to last for a day with just that amount of wires they have right now."

"Okay," Obito says, fishing into his messenger bag and grabbing a pen. He scribbles down Sasori's request on the same piece of paper. "Lights and fish wires, got it."

Sasori nods to confirm then heads to sit back down, continuing his sanding work.

Obito turns to watch Deidara, using the time to study him. His dream seems very realistic now that he can see the actual person.

There's no way he could dream up Deidara, though. This person is way too unique and out of his mind to be his creation, that's for sure. But then how did he get into his dream?

Obito frowns. Maybe he has just heard of Deidara because of that fighting incident, that could be it. He stops thinking when Deidara heads toward him, handing him a thin stack of papers just like Sasori has. He doesn't bother with explaining what it is, though, even though Obito has already picked up on what it is.

He accepts it and puts it underneath Sasori's.

"I'll need a projector, hm," Deidara says, handing him another item. "Play this."

Obito takes the CD case. It's transparent, and the CD inside is the classic silver with nothing printed on it. He shoves it in his bag.

His job is essentially finished, and it's obvious the two artists aren't expecting him to stay any longer and won't keep him company. He opens his mouth and closes it again like a useless fish, just staring at Deidara who's already returned to his work, kneading clay.

Obito presses his lips into a thin line, taking leave even though there's a feeling inside of him that makes him want to tell Deidara about his dream, or dreams. There's also a more logical side of him that tells him the blonde will think him crazy if he actually does.

So he leaves the room. The rest of the art students are easy to find, but he honestly doesn't really care about them at the moment, despite it being his work. He leans against a wall after he's a couple of rooms away from the sculpting room, filtering through the stacks of paper he received.

'Mama and Papa,' reads the first one from Sasori. He assumes this is what the sculpture he saw is called. He scans the description.

'To my parents. They're still alive within me, even though I am dead.'

How... emotional. Obito frowns, looking through the rest of the description. It's just explaining his work progress and material usage. Not interesting for someone who doesn't really care about art.

He shoves Sasori's stack into his back, neatly, mind you, and sifts through Deidara's, feeling a little guilty for doing this.

He seems like a nice enough guy, right? Just nice enough to the point where Obito already feels an affinity toward him, it doesn't matter if they just met.

'Red Kite.'

Obito swallows hard. That's the name of the art piece he saw the two girls looking at, right? It has to be. Strange. Its name is exactly the same meaning of his nickname Tobi...

'It wasn't meant to be.'

Obito stops himself from reading more, the first sentence already making him wince. He shoves the rest of the papers into his back, taking a deep breath to calm himself. He closes his eyes, leaning his head against the wall.

Behind his eyelids and within the darkness, he could see a water droplet fall and scatter his supposedly blind gaze. His eyes see more, noticing movements and glowing auras like he has never seen before, yet so familiar with. He turns yet again, feeling movement behind him.

It's Deidara.

He wants to open his mouth to speak, but he cannot utter a sound. In his mind, Deidara raises a hand and points toward something, so naturally, Obito turns to see what he is gesturing toward.

A small town bustling with people. He returns his gaze to Deidara, watching him pull out one of the clay sculptures he makes, but this isn't the usual kind of animal Obito knows. In fact, he doesn't even know if it's an animal at all.

Before anything else happens, though, Obito blacks out again, returning to his own world. It's silent, save for the echo of water.

A world... where humans have powers that seem so supernatural it must come out of a comic book... He chuckles despite himself, realizing he sounds exactly like those anime people love watching. It has never suited his taste, but he'd probably be a main character if he keeps up this act.

Obito feels he's back at school, leaning against the wall, but his eyes remain closed. Why does he dream of this world where humans are ninjas with superpowers? What is the purpose?

He opens his eyes and stares down at his hand, feeling a thin fabric like he's wearing a glove, but he is not. He clenches his hand into a fist, then releases it again.

It's just his skin, right?

A world of superpowered ninjas. He lets that sit in his mind a little while longer. There's just no way. When he turns, he doesn't see anything more, just the school hallway. The art building isn't very populated, that or the art students just rarely come out of their rooms. He understands. They have a huge workload, and with the show coming up very soon, they need to polish up their work.

Obito turns and gazes over his shoulder, staring at the door he came from. He remembers Deidara's back, wearing his apron on top of a striped shirt. His golden hair tied back in a casual manner but enough to keep out of his face. His features are softer than the ones he sees within his dreams, or visions, and he finds he likes the real Deidara way more.

Smiling to himself, he turns and heads down the hallway. There's still more artists' statements and requests to collect.


	2. Re:adjust

Dokuzetsu is glad at his progress and takes the stacks of papers and requests with accepting hands.

"Thanks for helping," the troubled teen says, shuffling the pieces into a neater file once he separates them according to artists. "If you want to help out again, I can drop in a good comment for you."

"Thanks," Obito grins. "It's really enlightening."

"I take you had fun loitering around the art exhibition?" Dokuzetsu asks, neatly placing the papers into another folder. Obito assumes it's for handing to the art teacher, or some other higher up that he has to answer to.

"Yes," Obito nods. "I saw some pretty impressive artwork and their meanings are pretty deep."

"You looked at their statements?" Dokuzetsu asks, raising a dark eyebrow at Obito.

"I glanced at only the first ones while I was waiting," Obito explains hurriedly, waving away the topic. "It doesn't matter anyway because you know me when it comes to art. I know nothing about it, and when I can't understand what's going on but know there's a deeper meaning, then I'll just say it's deep."

"Right," Dokuzetsu nods. He studies Obito for a while, his gaze a kind of heavy in weight that makes Obito very uncomfortable. Funny, he remembers that he does not like Dokuzetsu as much as he likes Jozetsu, even though the two Zetsus are practically inseparable. You can hardly see one without the other unless it's rare times like these when they both have things that do that require them to be apart from one another.

When the two are apart, though, Obito could see clearly their differences. In fact, even when they are together you couldn't ignore the stark differences between the two brothers. They're twins, yet no one has ever mistaken one for the other. They aren't fraternal twins, but for some reason, Dokuzetsu looks way tanner than Jozetsu.

Coupled with their almost polar opposite personalities, where one is serious and the other is much of a jokester, Obito didn't need anything more to be reminded that they're two different people.

And Jozetsu never has a gaze this heavy, pregnant with a strange kind of judgment that is way too loaded with negative emotions for it to just be about him peeking at the artists' statements.

"Well, if you don't need me for anything else," Obito says curtly, nodding his head and steeling himself against the weighty gaze. He shifts his shoulders and stands a little higher, using the few centimeters difference of height to express superiority above Dokuzetsu.

Obito is sure the sense of having to forcefully express his dominance toward Dokuzetsu has always been. It is fact to him at this moment and nothing else matters. By peering down at Dokuzetsu over the bridge of his nose, Dokuzetsu seems to shrivel just a little and nods once more.

"Alright," he says dryly. "Whenever you feel it, come back to only help."

Obito doesn't know if it's a threat. Whatever this art exhibition means to this school, or to the Principal, him just peeking at the statements does not warrant this kind of reaction. If Dokuzetsu isn't Jozetsu's older brother, he'd stop any relations with him at the first given chance.

They're friends in nothing but name. There is no trust. Obito feels it in his bones.

He doesn't say anything else after that, giving no wave as he turns to leave. He passes through the schoolyard again, though this time taking his time to avoid the students that are playing basketball.

He eventually makes his way toward the entrance of the school, recalling the entire day on the way there fearing that he had forgotten something, like having to see a teacher before he actually leaves. But seeing as his very reliable mind and memory doesn't come up with anything, he steps foot out of the rather modern building and heads for the open street.

The sun is still bright out, the entire area coated in a stark white light reflected with the help of the concrete jungle. Everything's in a plain, metallic glow and with a number of people milling around, anyone not born in a city would wonder what kind of festival is going on.

The crowd flows like a solid mass of water with no sense of direction, thousands of people pushing against each other in opposite directions like a raging river split into multiple areas, fighting against the current to get to where they wish to go.

No one is forgiving and everyone is persistent, which makes Obito rather lucky in catching a flow of people that are heading toward the direction he's going. He allows them to drive him to the train station, even though he isn't sure everyone is heading to the same destination despite heading the same direction.

The city is a crisscross of hidden locations and turning a corner would lead you to a whole different world. It is not much different from the roads of life where you can take one wrong turn and end up somewhere completely where you did not think you would end up. Obito finds that rather familiar in more ways than one.

He steps into the body of the train before the door slides closed with the warning beep, pushing against the crowd to prevent himself from being squished by the unforgiving doors. He leans back against them once they close, letting his head rest against the transparent pane that makes up the windows on the door.

The city zooms by him, blurring into one terrible mass. As he looks on with his gaze unfocused, peering out the window. With the dirt on the wind-resistant glass and the speed of the train, an image begins to form as his mind tries to make up for the hazy skyline in front of him.

Gaps fill, flickering across the still blue sky. The differences of height between certain buildings form into a hole, for a single eye. The lights from a tower behind glows purple and it shines through the being's eye socket, gleaming at him.

The mouth opens and with a flicker of what looks like ten tails, the deformed monster lets out a blood curling scream and Obito snaps back awake, eyes widening and breathing hard.

Was he just now dreaming? It has to be a dream. How the hell are his dreams leaking into reality - twice now, if he counted it correctly.

Obito looks around the train. People are either looking down at their phones, on the floor or staring out blankly at the windows. They're not even paying attention to anything that's happening, uncaring of the announcer's voice when it comes on to remind passengers what the next stop is.

They rock with each motion of the train, moving as one squirming mass. Obito feels claustrophobic, his breathing still heavy. He doesn't want to stay staring inside the cabin of the train, but he cannot look out the window either, lest the buildings turn back into that grotesque image of a monster with ten tails.

He pulls out his phone and tries to occupy himself with that, trying to control his breathing. He takes a few deep breaths before opening a newsletter application to occupy his mind. Obito personally doesn't really care about what's going on around him if it isn't anything directly related to him.

He's the kind of person who would only keep his eyes on his own goals. Why care about anyone or anything when they won't care about you, right? You have to be the first one to learn to treat yourself, or else no one else would do it for you. Who would love you if you don't love yourself?

He scrolls through the home screen, scanning the headlines and giving them a few courteous glances if they were interesting, otherwise, he ignores them and keeps scrolling. There's really nothing interesting happening in the news right now. It's a quiet period in Japan.

Some news about a local festival catches his attention, about a dance and some explosions, with flashing colors. It would be held in a few cities away but Japan isn't terribly big enough to the point where it'd take you days to make it to and from.

Obito thinks he knows someone who would be interested in going if he hasn't already decided he wanted to go.

He locks his phone and shoves it back into his pants when he hears the monotone announcer's voice ringing through the body of the train, notifying his stop is arriving. Obito moves and nudges a little way to the door, waiting for the train to stop and the doors to open.

The sun still shines and it still creates a raging glow of white, but it's getting cold so the ray is a little less aggressive, its glow just a little more welcomed than it would be in the summer. The city remains lit up as Obito steps out of the train, leaving the station altogether after paying for the fee to cross the gates.

In the enormous, constantly moving city, Obito stands alone, phone in hand. Everyone walks on, reaching for their own goals for the day and in their life.

By the time he reaches his apartment, walking up the steps and entering through the tiny gates, the sky is already darkening and the streets are bright with the white fluorescent lights that carry a small amount of blue tint in them.

The quiet buzzing of the blue-white lights fills the relatively quiet neighborhood building he lives in, though he finds no comfort in them. He shoves his key in the lock of his door and opens it, pushing it open and taking off his shoes at the threshold.

It's an old-fashioned apartment, the first step of the floor still raised. He nudges his shoes to the side, where the rest of the shoes are, and takes the step, walking down the hallway.

The house is warm and filled with a comforting homely orange glow. He turns his head to look around, peering through rooms to see where his grandparents are. He spots his grandmother sitting at the dining table immediately to his right, so he enters the room.

"I'm home," Obito says, catching her attention since she seems to only be focusing on the television.

"Welcome home, grandson," his grandma says, still not taking her eyes off the television screen. "Grandpa went out to buy something for us to eat tonight."

"Oh, okay," Obito nods, taking a step back and heading to his room. He drops his backpack on the floor of his room and takes a seat at his desk, sighing when he sits.

He pulls out his phone, staring down at the slick black screen reflecting the artificial light in his room. As the clock clicks with each second, driving the gears of his mind to work, Obito comes up with an idea.

He unlocks his phone and taps on Dokuzetsu's contact, opening up the message box. His fingers curl over the digital keyboard, lips pressing into a small thin line. Should he do it? It might seem a little creepy. He isn't even sure if Dokuzsetsu has his number...

The bubbles of their previous conversation stare back at him. The little blue line blinking in the message box, taunting him with each flicker.

Whatever. Obito discards his so called good idea and locks his phone, tossing it onto his bed. He grabs his backpack and pulls out his homework, deciding to work on it before grandpa comes back with dinner.

Time is a woven sheet of sand, formless and ever changing. Time does not travel in a way where people think it might - sure, it goes forward and perhaps the average person may think it can only go forward, but it doesn't have to. Time can move and change and shift through itself, creating clashes and confusing most everyone.

Time is life. With life, there is an understanding of time. Time can exist with itself and without, and time can exist both in the past and the present.

Biting the back of his pen, Obito pauses in his work, staring blankly at the sheet of paper. Time is something no one can understand, so how is he to do that? Does what he's experiencing have anything to do with time?

There has to be. There's no exact reason for it, but those visions only trigger when his eyes are closed when his mind drifts away - when he doesn't focus on the passing of time.

Obito is broken out of his reverie with the sound of his grandfather coming back home and locking the door shut behind him. The metal parts of the lock create a loud rattling sound that is all too familiar for Obito, and the boy lets go of his pen, pressing the head against his chest in a halfhearted attempt to dry it off before setting the tip back on the piece of paper.

He scribbles down the answer he already has in his mind long ago, simply writing it down with nothing else crossing his mind. He crudely looks over the other questions, sighing when he sees something he doesn't like. Obito tries to look and act busy as he hears his grandmother helping grandfather pull the takeouts from their plastic constraints.

They're placed on the table and pried open, the Styrofoam food container screeching its protest as it's clawed open.

Chopsticks clatter the wooden table and Obito braces himself, already putting down his pen.

"Obito! Come eat dinner!" His grandmother calls, sounding like she's moving herself to sit down at her usual seat.

Obito stands up, his chair rolling away as he does. He leaves his room the way it is, not even bothering to turn off his lamp when he does.

His grandparents are already seated at the dinner table, chattering among themselves, talking about their neighbor and what she did with her dog, something or another. Obito doesn't really care enough to want to know. His grandparents are already retired and have nothing much to do other than gossip about others, usually complaining about the most mundane things as they live off the government's subsidies. Obito doesn't want to get involved unless he absolutely has to, like if their neighbor killed her dog or something similarly extreme.

He sits down in his usual seat and picks up his chopsticks, muttering that he's about to eat and starts to dig in. Dinner is like this usually, between the two different generations, years of wholly dissimilar experiences cause communication to be rocky and bland. They sit in silence and Obito sometimes would scroll through his phone while his grandparents chatter away.

It isn't popular dinner table etiquette and Obito knows it, which is why he left his phone in his room. But still, he did not attempt to join in on his grandparents' conversation, barely able to even lend even half an ear to listen to whatever they are saying. His mind is too plagued with the events that happened earlier today.

As the sound of his grandparents' talking blurs, Obito doesn't find himself eating his dinner anymore. He sits across the now unmistakable blonde, watching him eat dangos in some old-fashioned store. He could feel the man become irritated, then his mouth opens again not to eat, but ask him why he's staring and not eating his own snack.

"Obito," his grandmother says, "are you alright?"

Obito blinks, looking down at his box and feeling heat rush up to his face when he realizes he dropped his chopsticks. "Yeah," he mutters, picking them up. "I'm just tired from school today. I had to stay behind and help the art exhibition."

"That's nice," she replies. "You're helping around at the school. You're such a good boy."

He smiles, hurriedly finishing his meal. He stands, picking up the box and the chopsticks, uttering that he'll be returning to his room first. He throws away the rubbish on the way out and half-jogs back into his room, kicking the door shut before practically throwing himself down onto the bed.

Grabbing his pillow, he cries out into it, squeezing his eyes shut as he tries to rid himself of these visions. What the hell is going on? He's way too confused right now to focus on doing his work, so he doesn't bother. He sits back up when he remembers he still has to take a shower and change out of his school uniform.

Letting the pillow fall, he looks down at his hands, touching them with a slightly concerned expression. Why does his skin feel so weird? He remembers that he used to love to wear gloves - especially half finger ones - and after a while, taking them off would leave your skin feeling prickly, as if unused to the world it has spent years feeling.

He squeezes his fingers in his right palm, trying to ignore the feeling and just move on. The day has become too weird for him to comprehend. It has to be stress from school that forces him to remain above the water.

He needs to move on.

88

When morning comes, Obito finds himself unable to get off the bed, frozen there by some force that keeps his mind reeling. What is he going to do? He wants to... well, talk to him. There's something there that Obito wants to acknowledge and he needs to know if Deidara feels it too. Or knows it. Or experiences it.

He had the night to think. It had to mean something that in his visions, in his dreams, that he keeps showing up. Maybe it doesn't really mean anything, maybe he really has heard of the bomb incident and seen his face somewhere while walking around school grounds, the face ingrained in his thoughts and the name seeping into his body.

But still, he wants to know even if it probably means nothing. There is such a strange feeling that Obito feels like he knows the blonde before, that they had been close. Have they met?

Growling out in frustration at his once again frantic mind, Obito tosses a pillow across the room and promptly falls off the bed by the strength of his throw. He tuts himself and rubs his back, grumbling about how he's an idiot as he picks himself off the ground, grabbing his phone from the charger to silence the alarm.

He always wakes up before it, anyway. It's there only because there are times where he oversleeps. His grandparents never know to wake him up.

Obito removes himself from the floor, sighing with the effort. He tosses his phone on his table and heads toward his closet, where he has hung up a new set of uniform the night before, after his shower. He takes it down from the hook and holds onto the clothes hanger, taking it with him into the bathroom.

It doesn't take him long before he's done preparing for school. His teeth brushed, hair straightened from being bed-ruffled, face fresh, and uniform tidy. He looks every bit of the student he is. Not a good one, but not a bad one. Just a student who knows better than to do something that would attract the Principal's attention.

What a scary woman she is. No one wants to deal with her, not even the two head prefects who have to constantly has to because of their job. Obito does not envy Pein and Konan their jobs and responsibilities.

Walking out of the bathroom, Obito heads back into his room to grab his schoolbag - packed after his shower last night - his phone, and his wallet.

The television is on, softly playing the news. He vaguely catches today's weather, but it isn't anything impressive. Just the usual cool, moody autumn as it slowly gives way to winter. His grandfather sits at the table, reading the newspaper as he eats breakfast.

"Good morning, grandson," he says in his gruff voice, taking a sip of his tea.

"Good morning, granddad," Obito replies, pulling out his usual chair to eat the small breakfast the old man had made for him.

Grandmother never wakes up this early. She used to, but her age prevents her from being energetic nowadays. Obito pours himself a glass of orange juice, setting it down next to his empty bowl of rice.

Pressing on the rice cooker's latch, he bats away the steam that rushes out of the container, reaching for the rice paddle to serve himself some rice.

He places a paddle-full into the bowl, observing it for a second. "Is that too much?" he asks himself, then shakes his head. "No matter."

He places the bowl down and begins to dig in, taking in some salted fish to serve it with the rice. He could hear his granddad put down his newspaper, shifting in his seat.

"Kakashi sent mail," the old man says suddenly, stopping Obito in his tracks.

"I don't want to read it," Obito replies coolly, continuing to eat his breakfast. "Throw it away."

"Why do you not want to talk to him, son?" His grandpa doesn't turn to face him, eyes now glued to the TV screen. "It's not his fault, Rin wrote so."

"I don't care," Obito hisses. "He couldn't protect her. I told him if anything happens to Rin, he has to talk to her, keep her safe. He didn't do it."

"Do you regret that we moved here?"

"...no." Not anymore.

The old man nods once, almost glad that he said that, and they lapse into a silence. Obito quickly finishes his breakfast, placing his chopsticks down delicately on the table and packing up most of the dishes he has finished.

"I'll be heading to school, now," he says to his grandpa, who simply grunts in return.

Obito gives the old man a glance, then grabs his backpack, his phone and wallet already in his pant pockets. The apartment door clicks loudly behind him, but he is used to the noise. He heads down the staircase and into the road, the dead lights overhead silenced for the morning sun.

The sun is weak, feeble rays wavering through the air and barely enough to keep Obito warm. Winter is definitely coming. He sighs, fishing into his pant pocket to grab his phone, unlocking it with a few strokes of his fingertips and bringing out the message box.

He has to try. There's no way his mind would let him rest this case if he doesn't. But maybe just not with Dokuzetsu, he isn't sure what the darker twin would make of the entire situation if he does ask. He exits out of the conversation with him, switching instead to find the lighter side of the Zetsu twins.

" _Hey,_ " he types in the box, sending it first.

The reply is almost instant, Jozetsu coming online and typing out a quick "hiya."

" _Don't ask me why, but I need to know Deidara's number,_ " Obito narrowly avoids walking into someone in front of him, who had stopped by the side of the road to take a smoke. The man glares at him, stabbing the cigarette butt into the ashtray embedded at the top of the trashcan to suffocate the burning tobacco.

He doesn't give that man any more attention and continues to head down the road to the train station, typing a response as best as he could without slowing his movement. Dangerous and idiotic and no doubt bothering the other pedestrians on the road, but Obito is not able to find himself to care.

He grips his phone tight as Jozetsu replies, probably already at school but hanging out near the convenient store outside to grab a quick snack as he is wont to. " _I won' n' I can't 'cause I don' have his number. Dokuzetsu probably has it, he's responsible for most of their stuff. Even if he doesn', I'm sure he can ask one of the other peeps he's friends with._ "

" _No, don't get your brother involved. Don't tell him we've had this conversation, either._ "

" _Ok._ "

" _Do you at least know where I can find him after school?_ "

" _Accordin' to Doku, he almost always never leaves immediately after the bell rings. Either he's in the art room workin' on his displays or he's practicin' with the_ theatre _club._ "

" _Any more hints?_ "

" _Heard today's timetable for his class has the second elective as the last lesson._ "

Obito steps onto the train, not the least impressed with the size of the crowd inside the train. He manages to stand in a spot on the cart without any unwanted physical contact so that he could respond to Jozetsu in peace, staring down at the glowing screen and ignoring virtually everyone and everything around him.

" _And his second elective is?_ "

" _Theatre._ "

" _Artistic._ "

" _They have a show comin' up, I think. Merchant of Venice by our dear ole pal, Shakespeare. You'll find him in there, I'm sure._ "

" _Thanks._ "

Obito locks his phone right after the message sends, showing the delivered label. He shoves it back into his pant pockets, grabbing hold of one of the overhead handrails in the cart to keep himself steady as the train continues to rock as it twists and turns under the spiderweb of tunnels all mapped across Tokyo.

88

The school is loud and rowdy after the bell rings, the noise growing as each second pass. Students crawl out of their classrooms and leak into the canteen, gathering around the campus store for remaining snacks and drinks, chattering about whatever comes to their mind.

Obito rarely travels this path, walking down an unfamiliar hallway that leads him to the rest of the expansive art facility this school has. He takes this moment to admire everything around him, unknowing of all the awards and competition the school has entered and even won.

He traces the plaques with the tip of his finger and feels the engraved words beneath his skin, running along the length of the smooth golden metal. Cleaned almost every day, Obito muses, removing his finger when he notices that there isn't even a single dust particle inside the edges of the chiseled words. The Principal must be really strict about it all, no doubt proud of their work in the artistic side of Japan.

The artistic side of Japan is weird. Obito presses his lips into a thin line as he tries to recall where the theatre room is. Eventually, he finds the right path, turning right and reaching the double doors that lead him into the room. He peers through the tiny windows installed on the painted doors, noting the large amount of people on the stage.

The teacher is sitting in the audience, scribbling down on her notebook. Obito remembers her from when drama was a compulsory lesson during the beginning years of high school. Mrs. Sarutobi, he thinks her name is. She's friendly enough, he recalls, she'll let him in even if he doesn't really have a legitimate reason to be there.

Hell, he doesn't even know half the people in there on stage. None of his friends like drama.

Grabbing the handle, it twists in his hand and the door lets him in. It doesn't attract any attention and Obito stealthily slips by, remaining at the top of the stairs in order not to attract any attention. He looks down at the stage.

The whole room is bright. There is no special lights or effects to point out the main character and the people in the background are moving quickly. Although he has no clue what is happening, he recalls that when the light is not on them, the people in the background are officially classified as "invisible" to the audience, and thus no attention should be paid.

A boy, whom Obito does not think he knows and is probably of the lower forms, is delivering some lines to a person stage right. Much to his surprise, it is Deidara.

"There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory, more between your bloods than there is between red wine and rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?" the boy is saying, not looking down at the script in hand.

"There I have another bad match!" Deidara exclaims. Obito struggles to keep up with the lines, unable to guess from such little context clues and limited knowledge of the play what character he is playing. "A bankrupt, a prodigal who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto, a beggar that was used to come so smug upon the mart. Let him look to his bond. He was wont to call me usurer; let him look to his bond. He was wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let him look to his bond."

"Why, I am sure, if he forfeit thou wilt not take his flesh," the boy responds, sounding all the most worried and confused. "What's that good for?"

"To bait fish withal." Deidara pauses, staring intently at the boy. "If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me and hindered me half a million, laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies—and what's his reason?"

For all Deidara seemed to the rest of the school, Obito has to admit that he is a good actor. There are general heat and anger within his voice, trembling as each mockery is listed out. Obito contemplates on pulling out his phone and checking who he's playing but finds he cannot move from the spot as Deidara continues to speak after the small pause in his speech to catch his breath.

"I am a Jew," he eventually says, pressing his lips and turning away from the boy. He seems to think for a second and then looks back up, at Mrs. Sarutobi. "Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?"

He turns at an angle, putting his back toward the boy, pacing and physical language uneasy. "Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is?" The blonde turns back to face the boy this time, gesturing wildly as if to prove a point. "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that."

There is a mockery of a laugh. The rest of the cast is silent as they listen to him. Obito wonders idly, as each word Deidara utters seep into him, why the artist has not slipped up with his speech pattern. During his meeting in the art room yesterday, it seemed like he couldn't control himself with each grunt after a sentence. "If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute—and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

"Okay!" Mrs. Sarutobi shouts, standing up from her seat and closing her notebook. "That's good. That's good, Deidara, you remembered your lines this time."

Deidara laughs, a chime that Obito seems shocked to hear, and bats his hand in the air. "I forgot my lines only once, hmm!"

"Once is enough!" Mrs. Sarutobi laughs merrily, slipping out of the row of seats. "Now, remember, practice is perfect. The show is in less than three weeks, so please re-read your lines if you have the time to. If you forget, make it look intentional. I'm very sure your schoolmates do not read Shakespeare in their free time and have the brain capacity to recall each line better than you. And, well, if there actually is a schoolmate who is that talented, please ask them to join the class."

She heads up the stage and hands them pieces of paper. "Have your parents sign this and give it to me tomorrow. You'll need to stay behind on Thursday in order to make sure the costumes fit, it won't take long but it's still important for your parents to know," she hands Deidara his letter last, patting his shoulder. She is taller than him by a few centimeters, so he lifts his chin a little to look at her in the eyes.

"Good luck on your art show!" she says, grinning wide. "We'll miss you next year."

Deidara grins back, thanking her. She lets go of his shoulder and waves to everyone, dismissing the class just half an hour later than the school day's end.

As she's jogging up the long stairs, she finally notices Obito standing near the door. "Tobi!" she calls his name, catching his attention and surprising him with her memory. "It's been a long time since I've seen you! Are you looking for me?"

"Ah, no," Obito smiles faintly, shaking his head. "I'm, uh, I'm looking for... one of your students here."

She studies him for a moment seemingly wondering if she should ask but then lets him go and nods. "Well, take your time. They still need to pack up the props and I have a meeting to attend. When you leave, remind them to shut the lights and lock the storage door."

"Okay," Obito nods, waving goodbye when Mrs. Sarutobi leaves, the door letting out a click when it shuts behind her. He turns his attention back to the stage, watching the people walk around and chattering. They seem excited and approachable, but Obito doesn't move toward the stage, instead opting to remain at the top of the stairs.

He isn't sure what he should do, to be honest with himself. He bites his lip as one by one, the theatre kids hop off the stage, walking up the stairs and giving him odd glances. Much to his surprise, Deidara didn't seem as eager as the other students to leave. That works to his advantage.

Not even five minutes later, the theatre room is void of life, except for backstage. Warily, Obito trails down the steps, his footsteps quieted by the carpet floor. He climbs the stage's steps and peers into the curtains, trying to catch a glimpse of bright blonde hair.

He hesitates near the edge, his hand gripping the soft fabric of the curtain. What he's doing is rather... creepy. He didn't know exactly why he's doing it, just that he knows there's a feeling deep inside of him that won't let him rest this case if he doesn't. He'd rather be able to focus than have to wonder 'what if's for the rest of his life.

Pushing those thoughts away, Obito looks around once again, eyes lighting up the moment he spots the blonde. Deidara has his hair down now, the river of gold cascading down his back. He wonders if he should call out, but then again he didn't want to spook the guy.

Deidara seems tense, working on packing up whatever props is left on the table. Ah, hopefully, he isn't creeping out the guy too much.

"H-Hey!" Obito finally decides to call out, lest he drags this on and has Deidara stand there forever since it seems obvious he's uncomfortable with his silent presence. "Deidara?"

Deidara doesn't move from his spot, but it's obvious he has stopped packing up. "I-I, uh, I wanted to talk to you," Obito tries to say, feeling at a loss for words. He laughs nervously, pitching himself in a tone that hopefully delivers as friendly rather than creepy.

"What?" Deidara finally says, turning around to glare at him through the strands of hair, blue eyes ablaze with a fire that could freeze any man's attempt at a heartwarming gesture.

"I, um, I was very moved by your performance!" Obito quickly says, letting go of the curtain and hastily heading over to Deidara, head bowed and hands clasped together.

Deidara seems unconvinced, or is it that he's disturbed by the fact that Obito had stood there and watched his practice? Obito doesn't know, and he doesn't think he wants to know, either. "A-And your art, too," Obito adds quickly, in an attempt to salvage this already seemingly unsalvageable conversation.

"...right..." Deidara mutters, turning to face him at an angle, still ready to bolt of Obito tries anything. They've only met once, and that meeting wasn't particularly good in the artist's book.

"I wanted to - to, discuss art with you," Obito says suddenly as if that idea just popped into his mind. "Do you want to go to the café? My treat!"

Deidara stares at him, confusion obviously written on his face, but he doesn't seem to have a good enough excuse to deny Obito. For a moment, it's just a staring contest, Deidara's darker golden brows coming together as his frown deepens.

"Alright, hmm," Deidara eventually says, sighing and turning away, grabbing the box of small props and heading toward the storage room.

Obito heaves a relieved sigh, shoving his hands into his pant pockets to stop himself from clenching them too hard, flattening them against his thighs to wipe off the sweat that had gathered. This is more nerve-racking than any unprepared exam he had to take combined. Are interpersonal relationships that important to him?

88

Even though it's nearing rush hour, given the extra time Deidara had spent practicing the Merchant of Venice and packing up the rest of the props that the younger members didn't want to help clean up, the café is nearly empty, with only a handful of other customers to tend to.

It is quiet, much quieter than any other time he has been here. Perhaps the other patrons must have accepted it to be a place unspokenly claimed by the students who often come here immediately after school ends, much like how Obito and Zetsu does.

"They upgraded the place," Obito says idly as he looks up from the edge of the new menu, cold sweat beginning to gather on his forehead when Deidara has not uttered a single word since they sat down. "The new lumber work is quite nice."

Deidara stares at him like he just spontaneously sprouted a second head. "What are you doing, hmm?" he grunts.

"I just - I just wanted to know," Obito pauses, tracing the plastic sheen of the menu with the tip of his finger as he tries to think of whatever that isn't _I had dreams with you in it even though I've never met you and the feelings I felt when I looked at you shouldn't be this way_. "More about you, I guess. Your art... it moved me. It was very touching, especially the one with the two birds."

When Deidara doesn't immediately respond, Obito fidgets and tries to pick up the flow of conversation. "So, who are you playing? In the... In Merchant of Venice?"

"Shylock, hm," Deidara says slowly, each word felt around his tongue before he utters them. "The antagonist."

"Oh!" Obito perks up, even though he isn't sure who Shylock is, he knows what the word antagonist means. "That's interesting. The speech you did seemed very righteous."

"Well, the enemy of his is a Christian and you know how they feel about themselves, yeah," Deidara says. "But even though Shylock is the supposed antagonist of the story, he has a point about how others judge and hate him just because of one characteristic of his. I should know, hm."

"You should know?" Obito tilts his head.

Deidara shoots him another glare that Obito could practically feel dig into his skin. "Why are you so behind on everything, yeah? Even kids from other forms know."

"Oh," Obito blinks. "I mean, yeah, totally. I know. I understand what you're saying."

The blonde heaves a sigh. "You can ask, hm."

It feels too private for him to. "No, no," Obito says quickly. "It just slipped my mind. I remember now. Say, do you want to order some food? I am getting hungry."

Grinning, Obito puts his hand up to wave a waiter over, ordering one of his favorites of the café and remaining silent when Deidara orders his meal too. They lapse into another silence when the waiter leaves after refilling their glasses with water, studying each other with barely concealed curiosity.

"What is art, to you?" Obito suddenly asks, putting his palms flat on the wooden table and feeling the creases of the material underneath his hand.

"You don't seem like a person to appreciate art, Uchiha Obito, hm," Deidara says almost teasingly, making Obito sputter, at a loss of words. Deidara waves him away, immediately picking up and refusing to let him put a word in before he manages to finish what he wants to say. "But I know, art is different to everyone, hm. Maybe you just couldn't find any meaning to art other than it being pretty to look at, maybe you're blind, yeah, but to me, art is more than just something I create.

"Life is fleeting, hm. One moment you're here, the next, you're gone. There's nothing you can do, yeah," Deidara nods along to his own words, looking away from Obito to pick up his glass of water and taking a sip from it. Obito watches him. "And anything in your life is also fleeting, too. Gone in a flash, hm. Memories, thoughts, ideas... feelings. Anything, yeah. There's nothing you can do about it.

"But when I sculpt it, yeah, when I make the clay take form and shape in my hands... It's different. That feeling never goes away and it feels like anything I pour into my art stays inside my mind, hm, that I remember every single detail. So in order to remember, I put it into my art, hm, to ingrain it into my brain. When I burn it all up, it's like a final stage where I'm sealing it all inside to prevent it from ever leaving, hm. Even if the physical sculpture is gone, I still remember it. It's still there, yeah."

Obito blinks, not even realizing their food had come in the middle of Deidara explaining his art. There's something different about this Deidara, something he couldn't put a finger on. He seems to be more... focused, filled with a kind of melancholy that he cannot help but retaliate. There is something that Deidara misses, but is it really his business to pry?

"Sometimes, yeah," Deidara suddenly speaks up again after their moment of silence to eat their ordered meals, his fork remaining inside the cake he has embedded it into. "When I sculpt, I feel happy, hm. Like I know someone will see it, hm, someone I... well. I'm not good with talking, yeah, I'm not good with expressing my feelings, that's another reason why I make my artwork. I make my artwork so that I can express myself, hm, so that other people can understand me and how I'm feeling."

Obito remains silent again, content with just listening to Deidara, the rumble of his baritone vibrating every fiber in his body. His words paint a picture in his mind, a picture of Deidara standing near the edge of a cliff, the wind blowing through his hair and a dully colored butterfly floating out of his outstretched palm, fluttering against the strong wind. He turns and Obito is once again greeted with those striking sapphire eyes, something twinkling beneath them that isn't its usual painful fire.

It seemed to him - as Deidara continues to talk in front of him - like he is looking for approval.

"Besides, art makes me feel free, hm. I don't need to follow anyone's rules when I make art. I'm free, yeah," Deidara finally turns his head and looks back up at Obito, blue eyes seemingly glowing as the sun begins to set outside, dousing the café in a pale golden glow.

All noise drowns out, the hum of traffic and the chatter of other diners cease. Obito could only swim within those ocean eyes, content with the bright future of uncertainty.

And slowly, a grin forms on his face, the sun reflecting against his skin and making it almost a little too blindly bright. "You can call me Tobi, you know," he says softly.

A truck passes by and bumps against the road outside, causing a loud crashing noise as its contents rattle inside. The noise fades when the truck drives further away. The slight flicker of light causes Obito to look away from Deidara's face, narrowing his eyes at the stream of light that is flowing through the large windows of the café.

A small inhale of air attracts Obito's attention, making him turn back to face the blonde sitting opposite of him. Deidara is grinning, ever so slightly, an expression that Obito cannot believe is directed to him. "Thanks, Tobi, yeah," the artist says, and in that moment, Obito does not think it is important to ask about what he did that made Deidara thank him.

88

It becomes a routine. Sure, it took a little while for Obito to convince Dokuzetsu to let him help every time, but at least Deidara is glad that Tobi is there for him.

They talk about nonsensical things, as well as communicating without really talking. It is strange to think that they have not been close before. Deidara hands Obito a tray filled with pieces of dried clay, and the Uchiha stares down at them with a confused expression.

The artist doesn't bother explaining what artwork it is a part of. He waves his hand and Obito obediently turns to head out of the door, knowing full well - because he has done this for three days now - that Deidara would be right behind him.

The two have clicked in a sense Obito has not been expecting, talking and bickering like old friends despite really meeting each other only a couple of days ago. Arriving at the exhibition room, Obito stands still with the tray in hand as Deidara picks the sculptures from it, placing them neatly and stylishly around a display they had both moved downstairs just yesterday. Obito has been more inclined to be Tobi around the blonde, poking and annoying the slightly younger boy whenever he gets the chance.

Teasing Deidara about his non-existent boyfriend is one of Tobi's favorite pastimes, and he is usually rewarded with a knuckle to the head. He doesn't mind because it feels way too natural, too familiar. The fire he has never been surrounded by but has always missed.

It feels right. It feels like for once in his life, he is complete and whole.

He places the empty tray into the sink per Deidara's orders but refuses to help the blonde wash it. He loiters around the room, peering here and there the leftover artworks of previous years' students as well as the work in progress artworks of the ones in lower forms. He wants to touch them but remembers the heavy scolding Deidara had given him when he tried that yesterday.

Shivering at the memory and rubbing his shoulder from the phantom pain of Deidara's furious punch, Obito turns and wonders where said fiery blonde is at.

Deidara is cleaning up the art room now that he has finished up what he planned to do today. He ignores Obito for the while, letting him do whatever he wants to while he cleans up the brushes and the tools he has used to fix up the sculptures. He made new pieces, too, on the fly, which left Obito to merely blink in amazement.

Unconsciously, Tobi finds himself heading over to the sinks. He stops his footsteps, but he is already closer than before. He contents himself with watching Deidara clean the bucket and the carving knives, somehow finding Deidara doing the simplest of tasks entrancing.

It is like Deidara could feel his eyes on him, and the blonde turns, those heavy eyes resting on Obito's suddenly too bare face. Taken by surprise, Obito acts merely by instinct, his lips curving into the most genuine smile he has ever sported ever since hearing about Rin's death.

Deidara rolls his eyes, but snorts out a laugh, pointing at the tray Obito has left unattended in the other sink. The artist very soon returns his attention to the dirty tools, but his smile remains on his lips. At that moment, the sun is the brightest, the glow of gold so much softer than Obito has ever known, leaving him stunned and rooted to the ground.

It is art. Tobi reaches out and holds it in his hand, in his heart, feeling it within his very soul, resonating. And it is beautiful.

* * *

Hey guys, Red here.

I'm not satisfied with Deidara's speech, but it's probably because I've spent way too long editing and thinking of what he'd say in the given context. My view of art to his is different and since I can't really ask him "what is art" I had to make it up for him. My memory of his art form isn't really that good so there might be some confusing points. I apologize.

If the speech pattern is weird to you, fear not. I made it so. In my mind, this is spoken in Japanese, as they are Japanese. Japanese grammar is obviously different, and I am using that idea to translate the sentences into English to better portray what they are really saying. It might be a bit confusing and I'm sorry about that.

I'm also sorry if this seems all over the place - I haven't been able to fully read everything over and make sure things make sense carrying down. It's been sitting alone and getting longer and longer, I had to quickly finish it before I decide to add at least two thousand more words into this chapter. As much as I think readers love long chapters, there should be an end to it and this is much longer than I originally anticipated. The ending, as you could probably tell, is rushed because I'm not good at describing montages - especially relationship building montages. My excuse for writing what I did will be explained in later chapters.

Note: from now on, Obito and Tobi would be used interchangeably.

Thanks for reading and feel free to drop a review,  
redskiez:)


	3. Re:discover

The two did not seem out of place while walking beside each other, despite coming from completely different departments. Art and mathematics usually do not mix, but it did not prevent them from sticking together.

Strangely enough, others do not seem to even find it off-putting. Sasori, who at first was shocked to see Tobi always at the art room once the bell signals the end of the school day like he teleported there, became accustomed to seeing Deidara and expecting Tobi to be beside him.

It is like they have always been together, since the start.

If the teachers aren't free to oversee the art students working in the exhibition, they'd spend some time in the library, reading or studying. Sitting back to back, Deidara would study his script for the play and Obito would mull over his textbooks.

Sometimes, they'd enjoy each other's presence long enough for the library to close and force them out. They'd then instead opt to spend their time at the café.

It isn't usually allowed, for them to spend time mostly talking rather than eating, though they do lapse in comforting silences that allow them to finish the meals they have ordered. Obito offered to pay for the two of them most of the time, with Deidara answering with an amused grin and a snide comment wondering if Tobi was flirting with him.

They'd laugh it off and then Obito would walk Deidara home, giving the smaller man a hug before he lets him go, watching the blonde turn in the corner and enter his apartment complex, throwing a glance over his shoulder to watch the Uchiha.

Usually, the sky would be just a shade darker than the striking blue of Deidara's eyes, those same watery eyes would reflect the city lights, causing Tobi to feel expansive and endless, his sky lighting up with the stars he's never seen, forever remaining within those seas that he never realized were his favorite color.

Obito thinks it is some sort of hex. How could it be that two complete strangers could click so easily? But whenever Tobi looks at Deidara's grinning face, whether it be because of something he said or something he overheard at the café, he finds that he doesn't really mind.

Tobi simply hopes that there is the same level of curiosity stemming from Deidara, too. The blonde could be hard to read sometimes, despite always wearing his emotions on his sleeves. He is very expressive, something that Obito notices almost immediately after their talk in the café. It didn't come as something surprising, though.

It seems to be okay, right about now. Deidara tolerates his presence and sometimes even seeks him out, whenever Obito couldn't make it over to the art building due to tests or whatever else that might have held him back. The Zetsu twins don't even question it anymore.

The twins had two completely different reactions at first. Dokuzetsu seemed to be disgusted, while Jozetsu could only spend his time asking useless questions like, "are you dating?"

They learned to shut up after the third time Deidara beat them bloody.

88

Perhaps it's only the matter of time.

88

The first impression Obito has of Deidara's studio apartment is that it is very warm, no matter how spacious it is. The artist must have left on a heater or something before he left for school. He wonders idly if his parents would mind if their son is racking up the electricity bill.

He takes a few seconds taking off his extra layers of jackets that he put on that morning to fend off the biting cold winds of the nearing winter, as well as eyeing the place. It looks well enough for a kid who's living on his own since his parents are away on working holiday. There are barely any doors, which makes sense since it's a studio apartment, but it surprises Obito with the lack of privacy save for the toilets.

He could actually see the corner of Deidara's parents' room from his position at the front door. Though, it does make the apartment a lot brighter than usual apartments. The setting sun is casting a bright light into the rooms, refraining the use of additional lights as long as the sun remains in the sky. It's actually bright enough for Obito to squint a little bit in order to ease the pain in his eyes.

He holds his jackets on his arm once he is rid of them, blinking up at Deidara.

"Why is it that you don't do your weird grunt thing when you practice?" Obito finds himself asking as he looks for a place to put down his bag and jackets, remembering the first time he saw Deidara acting as Shylock. Deidara gestures generously to the couch right next to the door, where Tobi puts his messenger bag and clothes onto.

They have just come back from another session of Deidara's practice with his theatre team, this time another scene. Obito spent his time sitting in the audience, with Mrs. Sarutobi. She still won't give up asking him why he's hanging out with Deidara most of the time, given that she hasn't seen them together in all the years they've been studying at the school, even when Obito answers that they just met and were already on pretty good terms.

Sometimes Obito wonders if that woman is planning something. He doesn't trust the look in her eyes. Although her eyes are the typical brown, there are sometimes hints of red that makes Obito uneasy. Kind as she is, Tobi has no doubt that Mrs. Sarutobi can dish out the harshest punishment she's allowed to if something happens to one of her beloved student actors.

"My grunt thing isn't weird, hm," Deidara grunts as he heads over to the walk-in kitchen, fidgeting a little as he notices laundry on the floor on the way there. Stealthily, or as stealthily as he thinks he's being, Deidara uses his foot to kick them out of Obito's sight - not that Tobi minds. He won't mention how one of those briefs is in hot pink. He'd just agree silently to never mention it. Ever.

"Hm," Deidara grunts once more, now standing aimlessly in the kitchen, as though he is deep in thought. "It's not weird, yeah," he repeats himself, nodding along to his words. "And I don't grunt because I tell myself the character doesn't grunt. I can't play a character if I can't speak and think like them, yeah."

"Oh," Tobi says, an interested tone. "So, it's like your art? You get lost in it?"

Deidara remains silent, grabbing a glass of water and quickly pouring some warm water into it. He doesn't speak until Obito accepts the glass and sits down on the couch.

"Yeah, like my art, yeah," the blonde nods, a little bit distant. "It's like I can... I can be someone else. Someone else that's not burdened. Yeah."

Tobi blinks. "Burdened by the art exhibition and the Merchant in Venice show?"

Deidara turns and watches with puzzling blue eyes, not talking until Tobi takes a tentative sip out of his cup to test the water's temperature.

He breathes through his nose deeply and breathes out much the same way. "Yeah," he says, almost hesitant.

Tobi doesn't doubt him for a second.

"Okay," he says cheerily, gulping down the rest of the water since it's the perfect temperature. Deidara must be used to mixing water for his clay. "Hey, do you have any actor's privileges?"

"What do you mean, yeah?" Deidara glances at Tobi, raising a slightly darker blonde eyebrow.

"I mean, can you manage to get a ticket for me? I'd like to see you perform live," Tobi grins.

Deidara mirrors it back gradually, finding this more and more humorous as time goes on. "Ha, but you watch me almost every other day, hm," Deidara says. "Wouldn't want to bore you. You fall asleep really easily, hm."

Obito lowers his glass, resting it on his lap as he looks up at Deidara, eyes all serious. "No," he says. "I don't."

Then, Tobi laughs. "I only pretend to fall asleep because what you're saying is boring!"

Deidara clicks his tongue, grabbing the glass from Tobi's hand and standing up angrily, stomping his way to the kitchen. "You're an asshole, yeah," he says.

Tobi continues his sing-song tune as he stands up as well, shamelessly wandering around the studio home now that the awkward ice has been shattered. He peers into bookcases, feeling only slightly guilty for invading Deidara's privacy, as he looks at old family photos.

Ah, the Basutos looks like a normal Japanese family. His father even took him to work more than once, it seems. There are newer pictures of the happy family, so Obito assumes Father Basuto and Mother Basuto took Deidara's coming out pretty well.

He could hear clanking in the kitchen and Deidara's voice follows shortly after. "Are you vegetarian, or anything, hm?"

"Oh!" Obito stands up straight from looking at one of the older pictures of Deidara, dusting off the image of baby Deidara in diapers taking his first walk at the beach. "No, I'm not vegetarian."

"Okay, that's good, hm," Deidara replies.

Obito quickly digs into his pant pocket, fishing out his phone. He ignores the texts from Jozetsu and heads to the phone application, having completely forgotten about telling his grandparents beforehand that he would not be returning for dinner. Needn't worry the old folks too much.

Within three rings, his grandmother picks up the phone. Obito puts the phone comfortably against his ear, listening to his grandmother asking who it is.

"Hi, grandma, it's me, Obito," Obito says into the speaker.

"Oh, hello Obito," his grandmother says kindly, her voice wavering slightly with age. "What is wrong?"

"Ah, just calling to tell you I won't be returning home for dinner tonight," Obito explains as he wanders to the other side of the living room, finding an open doorway that leads to what seems like Deidara's workspace. He glances around, noting the closeness to this and the couch. It's hard to get a big place for an artistic kid in Japan, he supposes. Perhaps Deidara's parents lived here way before Deidara was born, and had to move the furniture a little bit to accommodate the ever growing art supplies their son must own.

"I'm having dinner over at a classmate's, I'll ring you when I'm about to leave for home," he continues to say, heading inside the workspace and peering at carving tools and bags of unused clay.

"Okay," she says, her smile evident in her voice. This is the first time in a couple of months that Obito is spending time over at a classmate's home. He used to do it with Konan, Nagato, and Yahiko, but he had a bit of a falling out with Konan and she basically has the other two boys wrapped around her pinky finger. Their relationship never really mended over the years and it's just an awkward air even though Yahiko and Nagato enjoy spending time with Obito.

"You have fun now, okay?" she says, hanging up after the two says their goodbyes.

After the call is cut, Obito locks his phone and shoves it back into his pant pocket, coming to a spinny thing in the middle of the room. "What's this?" he asks, mostly to himself but he hopes that Deidara would hear.

There seem to be remains of fresh clay on it. He stares at it and wonders if Deidara is in the middle of making something, or has already finished.

"Huh?" Deidara questions, having heard Obito speak but not understanding him fully due to the distance. The artist abandons whatever it is that he is doing in the kitchen and follows Tobi's voice. Although he initially seems displeased that Tobi is in his workspace, he doesn't voice it and looks at what Obito is curious about.

"Oh, hm," he says beneath his breath, heading over and shooing Tobi away. He wipes his hands clean and starts stepping on a pedal beneath the thing. "It's a potter's wheel, yeah. I use it for throwing."

"Throwing?" Tobi asks.

Deidara sighs, grabbing some clay from a sealed bag beside him and places it on the wheel, shaping the damp clay gently into an almost perfectly cylindrical shape.

"Shaping the clay, hm," Deidara explains after a while, stopping when the clay is a little too dry to keep going. He has to make dinner, Tobi supposes, so he can't get carried away. "Try it. Entertain yourself while I get dinner ready, hm."

Tobi doesn't mind being spoken to by Deidara like he is a child, although both of them know that Obito is older than him. Deidara doesn't leave until Tobi sits down at the potter's wheel, poking at the clay.

He doesn't know what to make. He really isn't an artist.

He wonders, for a moment, if Deidara wants to know what his creative mind is like. But then again, he might also want to rein in this terrible child that Obito slips into being whenever he's around the blonde. It's madness.

Beginning to pick at the corners of the clay, Obito allows his mind to wander, trying to tap into his creativity but instead finds himself thinking back on the days that led up to this event. It's all really funny if he is being honest with himself. Perhaps it is really his creative mind that brought the two of them together.

A ninja world with Deidara by his side doing whatever he is doing with his clay sculptures in his hands. That Deidara looks wilder, uncontrollable. He wonders if he subconsciously picks up on Deidara's desires to be free and to prove his artwork whatever way he pleases, and his creativity just builds on it to entertain him while he's bored.

Though, it would seem he is losing his mind as he still sometimes feels like he's seeing things that aren't there no matter what, regardless of whether or not he is bored. He could glance around his room and instead of seeing his poster, he'd see an orange mask with a swirl design on it.

Sometimes, he even finds himself preparing for something that hasn't even happened yet. He's managed to catch falling items more often than not before it even falls down. He manages to duck out of someone's way when they come charging down the hallway. Even in PE class, when Dokuzetsu tries to throw a punch at him, he knows when to dodge it before the darker Zetsu even lifts his arm.

Movement is all strange to him now. He's so very aware of it. But at the same time, nothing really changed. He's still clumsy at times, and he still gets slightly better than average grades. Itachi is still as strange and distant as always, never fully trusting him, and Sasuke... well, that weirdo is doing drugs with Orochimaru.

As he's lost in his rediscovery of the subtle yet not so subtle changes in his life, Obito doesn't even realize he's beginning to sculpt the white monster he has seen the first day with the clay Deidara left him with, not even bothering to turn the potter's wheel.

He pinches chunks of the white clay off to make some tails, using his nails to carve an eye in the middle of the face. He even managed to make something akin to limbs if you squint and look at it at a certain angle.

Hm, well. He is actually rather proud of it. This is the first artistic thing he has made since kindergarten.

He spends a few more moments trying to refine the details, even though his memory of the monster is hazy and blurred at best. Having only seen it at the corner of his eye, when his gaze was unfocused, it's really hard to milk any details out of that. Yet just recalling the image sends chills down his spine, which remains as he realizes the clay sculpture looks quite like what he imagined.

Somehow, with the monster in mind, he recalls standing before it, its huge size looming over him as he feels utterly defenseless against the raw power that you can feel by simply being in its presence, as well as its very soul in its roar. A tiny speck of dust could not much defend itself against the stronger current of wind.

It's strange, really. How can a monster like this scare him like that? As a kid, not much really set him running to his grandparents, perhaps only the thought of his friends hating him. Obito was a genuine kid, a kid with simple desires and goals.

His hand tightens as a fist and he moves it away from the clay, lest he ruins his work. So much for just wanting the best of his friends. He couldn't really trust anyone now, could he?

Well, perhaps only Deidara. The blonde's crass at times but he's got a softer side, the first work of Deidara's he's seen coming to mind, as well as the times he spends with Tobi. Sitting side by side on the train, either chatting or dozing off on his shoulder. Spending their evening at the café, loitering around at the park.

At those times, when the sun sneaks into the room or dances around the park, it touches Deidara's skin and caresses it so gently that Tobi could swear he can reach out and touch it. The light causes Deidara's golden hair to positively glow, a halo of light forming around the supposedly impatient man.

As Tobi would keep staring sometimes, Deidara would seem almost shy at the attention and look away, trying to bring up a topic that would interest him.

He'd remember walking beside him, with trees beside them and cloaks covering them. They'd bicker with friendliness and whenever Tobi finds himself worrying that he'd finally cross Deidara's line, he'd make a fool out of himself and Deidara would crack the tiniest smile to reassure Tobi that Deidara isn't really that mad. And they'd take to the sky with nothing but their strange, weird friendship to hold them together, forever side by side.

A sense of sadness washes over Obito and he doesn't understand, his hands returning to idly carving details onto the monster. He spends some time fixing a tail when he realizes he's missed one and then spends even more time adding some spikes onto the wicked, cone-shaped body.

Somehow, he feels, that his time with Deidara would not be long. Though beautiful, it would echo Deidara's view of the world and become fleeting. The most beautiful moments shattering when Deidara shies away, or when Obito takes a little too long to decide whether or not he should reach out and take Deidara's smaller hand into his.

And then, just like that, with each chances slipping away, he'd eventually stop getting his chances and Deidara would disappear like sand from between his fingers. In an elegant flash, of course, as the blonde sure does love his scenes. He'd probably blow, either literally or metaphorically, and never come back.

Tobi doesn't want that.

Obito doesn't know what to think of it.

"What's that, yeah?" Deidara's voice cuts through his musings by suddenly showing up at his side. For as loud and boisterous as he seems, Deidara does have his silent hours. Obito remains rooted to the chair, unmoving as he turns his head to the blonde, smiling awkwardly in fear of his art being judged by a slightly professional artist.

Or well, someone who has more experience with art than he does, anyway.

"It's, um, it's my art," Tobi replies, ceasing his idle detailing to move away from the wheel a little, showing Deidara what he's made.

Deidara stares at it with hard blue eyes for a couple of seconds and with each passing, Tobi gets more and more anxious. He hopes he doesn't start pointing out his flaws.

"Well... what is it, hm?" Deidara asks, finally. It looks like some of the creepy, imaginary creatures Deidara does, but Tobi won't say that to his face, in case that would offend him. But inwardly, he does see the connection between the supernatural beings Deidara has the creative mind to make up.

"It's, er," Tobi looks down at what he made, thinking long and hard. "It's a monster with ten tails. It has superpowers like it can make huge bombs with the help of its tails and turn it into a beam if it eats it. Also, it has this huge mouth that has a lot of teeth in it, like a shark's."

Deidara turns to face him, and so does Tobi. Only now does he notice that he has an apron on again, but this time it's for cooking. He tries to look innocent, but Deidara seems unimpressed.

There's also something else beneath those sea-blue eyes that make Obito uncomfortable. A strange knowing, a curious glint. Within moments, it's gone and Deidara is left sighing, waving at the mess he made on the wheel.

"It's gross-looking, yeah," he says. "But kudos to you - I didn't think you'd have such a creative imagination, hm."

"Gross-looking?" Tobi sputters, looking down at his work. "It's not gross-looking! It's actually really cool, you know. It's super powerful and... and..."

And what else? It isn't even real.

Deidara raises an eyebrow once again, almost as if he's curious why Obito ignored his compliment, before waving the older boy off with a single sentence. "Dinner's ready, yeah, go wash your hands at the sink over there."

Tobi stops flailing his hands about, lowering them at his sides peacefully as he blinks at the blonde. "Oh, alright," he says, not realizing how long he spent making the clay sculpture. He heads over to the sink once Deidara leaves the room, cleaning his hands thoroughly of clay and even manages to get the annoying bits out from under his nails.

There is a window right above the sink, occupying him while he cleans his hands. The sky outside is dark now, the lights from buildings reflecting onto the sky. Deidara had turned on some of the apartment's light at some point, which shocks Obito when he realizes he doesn't even know it had happened.

The light from inside the apartment reflects on the window pane and it is as if they are hovering mid-air, dangling in the sky like a couple of lone stars that twinkle on their lonesome.

Obito stares for a few moments more before the hunger that resides in his stomach begin to grumble at him. He quickly turns off the tap after he makes sure the soap is all cleaned from his hands, moving to grab the drying cloth that is hanging on the wall beside the window.

As he dries his hands, he could smell dinner in the air. It smells great, too. He wonders if Deidara is talented at even more things than he realized, as though being a talented artist and performer is not enough for the blonde.

Shaking his head slightly, he puts the cloth back. Idly, he pats his hands down his shirt, to get last of the moisture that didn't get soaked up by the drying cloth. It's just a simple habit of his, something that his grandparents have never encouraged and even tried to discourage him from doing it. He just didn't really listen.

As he walks out from the workspace, he could see Deidara setting up the last of the things on the table. It's a modest meal at most, something that a typical high school kid would make. Oh, never mind, there's a fish in there. Obito could never steam fish well enough.

"When'd you buy the fish?" Tobi asks, hurrying over to settle down so that he wouldn't seem rude. He asked only because fishes were hard to keep fresh, and usually, you'd have to eat them the night you buy it.

"I pulled it out of my ass, yeah," Deidara rolls his eyes sarcastically.

"Wow, what else is in that ass of yours? A stick?"

"Don't be fucking gross, hm, eat your dinner," Deidara snaps at him, though despite his tone and words, he's grinning.

"Okay, but tell me what else I can find up in your ass later," Tobi winks, picking up the chopsticks Deidara placed on the table, uttering the traditional "I'm going to eat now" before picking up a piece of fish since Deidara has already filled his bowl with rice.

"Hm," Deidara grunts, taking a spoonful of egg to place in his bowl. "You were originally going to find out for yourself, yeah."

"Oh, so are you flirting with me now?" Obito grins. He feels as though he needs to mind like he has someone else in his heart. Although he cannot bring himself to care - whoever that person is or was (most probably Rin), they're already dead and gone and perhaps it's time to let someone else in his life.

"I guess you'll never find out, hm," the artist replies cheekily.

They lapse into a friendly conversation after that, asking each other what happens in their class and if there is someone they both dislike. They agree that the Zombie Duo, Kakuzu and Hidan, give them both the heebie-jeebies.

Tani Kakuzu and Shobi Hidan are known around the school as the Zombie Duo because of their strange habit of getting into dangerous gang related activities yet coming out completely unscathed. There were a couple of students who said that they witnessed people plummeting the two into bloody pulps even though they return to school the next day completely normal and healthy.

That's probably the beginning of the rumor that the two are undead.

Though there isn't much to do in regards to avoiding them. Kakuzu and Hidan are almost everywhere, and Hidan's loud mouth doesn't really help it either. Besides, they're friends with Nagato and Yahiko, so Obito really can't avoid it when Hidan recognizes him in the school hallways.

At least Kakuzu is quiet.

"What about Zetsu, hm?" Deidara asks. "You seem really close with the two of them."

"Only Jozetsu," Tobi replies around a mouthful of food - something that Deidara doesn't seem to mind. "Dokuzetsu doesn't really like me. I can tell. It's never straight answers with that dude."

Deidara scoffs. "Do they do weird twin stuff, hm?"

"Like what? Answer your questions at the same time? One feels it when the other gets punched?" Obito suggests, then taps his chin thoughtfully, then he reaches for the rice paddle to fill his bowl again. "Nah, but they do finish each other's sentences like they share the same mind."

"Creepy, hm," he shakes his head, blonde hair bouncing a little.

"Actually, the creepiest part is that Jozetsu is a completely different person when Dokuzetsu isn't around. We all know he's a big man-child, but he's even more unhinged when his brother is gone. The entire thing feels like Dokuzetsu is controlling Jozetsu."

Deidara watches him for a moment, seeming as though he wants to retort but finds that he does not know the twins nearly as well as Obito, so he gives it up and shrugs. "Just proves my point of them being creepy, yeah."

"Hm," Tobi pauses. "You're right."

"Of course I'm right, now finish the fish, it would go bad before I can eat it tomorrow, hm."

By the time they have the dinner table cleaned up, Obito couldn't really spend any more time fixing up his sculpture of the monster with ten tails. In fact, he has almost completely forgotten about it, sitting around with Deidara on the sofa talking about nothing in particular.

They have the TV on in the background, showing some random game show. Neither of them is really paying attention, however, more interested in sitting sideways on the couch to face each other as they converse.

More than once Deidara has gotten annoyed at something Tobi has said and reached out to slap him wherever he could reach, only leaving the other man laughing heartily at the action.

Everything feels warm and right, and Obito notices everything that Deidara does. The only thing he doesn't notice is the flow of time around them. His phone vibrates in his pant pocket and he is startled out of his reverie, having decided that Deidara's grin is much more aesthetically pleasing than anything else he has ever seen in his life.

He fishes out his phone hastily, shocked to find that it's his grandmother calling. He checks the time quickly and realizes it's pretty late already, which makes his grandmother's call much less annoying. He quickly answers the phone and reaches out to place a hand on Deidara's knee in apology for cutting him off.

"Grandma?" Obito answers, hearing his grandmother ask him gently on if he's planning to return home or not.

He glances at Deidara, thinking for a moment. "Yeah, I'll be coming back. There's school tomorrow, after all."

"Alright, will you be coming back soon?" his grandmother asks.

"Yeah, I will. Actually, I'm just about to leave now. I'll come back in around twenty minutes," Obito replies, agreeing with whatever else his grandmother might be saying and then hangs up swiftly. He looks up at Deidara as he slides his phone into his pocket, "I have to go."

"Yeah, okay," Deidara nods, almost seeming like he's sad. As though he's losing something that he's just found. Obito ignores the feeling of melancholy and squeezes Deidara's knee, ignoring the way the blonde's skin feels hot against his own. He stands up and grabs his jackets, putting them on.

Deidara stands to watch him, and Obito feels just a little self-conscious with a pair of brilliant blue eyes on him. After he shifts to make the jackets lie comfortably on his shoulder, he reaches for his messenger bag before Deidara's dainty hand brushes against his to grab it for him.

"I'll see you tomorrow, then, yeah?" Deidara asks as he holds the bag out for the taller man.

Obito accepts it with a grin, pulling the strap over his head and resting it on his shoulder. "Of course you'll see me tomorrow, we're going to the same school, duh," Obito reaches out and pokes Deidara's forehead, leaving the blonde pouting.

They say their goodbyes and Obito leaves the apartment door, Deidara shutting it behind him. As he walks down the darkened hallway to the elevator, Obito would never know that Deidara will spend the rest of the night looking at his sculpture of the monster with ten tails, blue eyes distant.

88

In the three weeks they've begun hanging out with each other, today is the third time Deidara has actively decided to seek Obito out himself, and the first time he steps foot into his classroom.

Although Deidara rarely sets foot in the mathematics part of the school - he mentioned before that he hates maths - Obito observes that even his classmates know who the fiery blonde is.

He's in the middle of packing up his messenger bag, since the bell just rang, to begin his trek over to the art department when he catches a flash of gold in the corner of his eye, turning to see Deidara struggle through some other leaving students in order to get into the classroom.

"Hey," he says once he is close enough to hear him, feeling warm when Deidara immediately smiles and hurries over to his desk. Obito could see that he's already carrying his own school bag.

Deidara rests his hands on the desk, huffing as he makes an offhanded comment about how fucking rude his classmates were by trying to force through him to get out of the classroom. Meanwhile, Obito could see that his other classmates that are still in the room are beginning to notice that Deidara is inside - and talking to Obito.

They crowd in a corner, making cooing noises and laugh amongst each other. Obito swears he could hear something like "new boyfriend" and "really throws himself at whatever guy he can reach" in the middle of those noises.

But Deidara doesn't seem to care even though Obito is pretty sure he could hear them as well. He spares the small crowd a glance before turning back to look at Deidara, who is currently running a hand through his hair. Obito watches his hair fall back into place gracefully, like an endless, flowing curtain of golden sand.

The moment Deidara speaks up again, however, breaks the focus and Obito turns his attention back to what Deidara is saying.

"Do you have anything to do later? Or, I mean, right now, yeah," Deidara asks, though it doesn't feel like a question when he trails off at the end.

Tobi laughs, shoving the last book into his bag. "What do you have planned?"

"Well, I had been meaning to go to an art museum recently, since they've opened a new exhibit, hm," Deidara says, looking down at his suddenly very interesting fingers and trying his best not to stare at anywhere that is Obito's person. "I've been busy with practice and the show, and today they're letting us off, yeah. But Sasori's being a fucking dick and won't go with me, so I thought..."

Obito needn't hear any more to know where this is going. He laughs again, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder and grins down at Deidara, nodding once. "Sure, I've got nothing else to do, anyway," he replies. "But you're paying for dinner!"

Deidara looks up at him, as though he is shocked the Tobi is saying yes. He smiles in return when the moment finally sinks into him, turning around promptly and saying "come on, then, yeah" before darting out the door.

"Wow, he really knows how to choose them," Obito hears someone say as he walks toward the entrance of the classroom, but Deidara is already outside, so Tobi decides not to waste any more time to tell some random classmate off and follows suit.

How Deidara manages to fend off and ignore every single person who decides to be annoying and bring up the only thing that sets you apart from what the rest of the world thinks is "normal" every possible second, Obito could not tell. But he can tell that Deidara is much happier being himself, so he does not question it.

Obito manages to catch up to Deidara and settles at a comfortable pace beside the other man. "Yo, you have to buy me a dango on the way," Tobi says as casually as he could, without sounding too smug.

"No eating in the museum, hmm," Deidara replies, trying to sound gruff and serious, though he just sounds slightly out of breath from walking down the stairs.

"Aw, please," Tobi whines, stretching the syllable for as long as possible until Deidara finally relents, sighing dramatically and growling at the taller man.

"Alright, alright," he huffs, pushing Tobi away. He swears to never refuse Tobi's request for dango ever again, seeing as once he's agreed, Tobi has already run down the stairs to the school canteen to get himself a box. Deidara rubs his temples, the annoying tenor of Tobi's whine making his head throb.

Deidara walks up next to Tobi after that, standing next to him as the school staff hands him the box of his dango sticks. Deidara huffs when the taller man just gives him a grin, digging into his pockets to fish out a hundred dollar bill to cover the cost. He gets his change and the two continue on their way to the school gate.

Obito unboxes the dangos quickly, grabbing a skewer and grinning at the sight of the sauce covered snack. He takes the first bite and makes a sound of approval, licking his lips to catch any of the sauce that has escaped.

"Hm," Deidara hums to himself, reaching over and grabbing a stick from the box. He ignores Tobi's protests and quickly retorts that he paid for it, and takes a bite for himself. "The school's only good at making these unhealthy snacks for us kids, yeah."

"Hey, I'm not complaining about good food," Tobi laughs, taking another bite.

As soon as they approach the school gates, however, Deidara seems to tense and Tobi could immediately sense the shift in the air. Obito turns only to find a pale boy staring back at them, face contorted in an unseemly grin.

He somehow reminds Obito of a snake. The Uchiha's eyes narrow, recalling the only graduate that still lingers in every student's memories.

Deidara seems to realize what is about to happen, even though Obito has no idea, and tugs at Tobi's arm. "Let's go, hm," Deidara grunts urgently, trying to lead the older boy away from an inevitable fight.

"Hey," the pale man rasps, the strangeness of his voice catching both of the students' attentions and Obito stops dead in his tracks, causing Deidara to bump into him and ultimately having to turn around to face the person of interest.

"Orochimaru, yeah," Deidara replies gruffly, tone hard and unyielding.

Obito knows that name and the person. He turns and sure enough, he finds Sasuke standing just a few paces behind them, Orochimaru having approached them to get them within earshot. He turns his attention back to Orochimaru, taking in the boney structure of the graduate and the sickly pale skin.

Hell, he doubts that Jozetsu is even this pale.

He could see the veins in the man's more-bone-than-flesh hands, and his long, dark hair looks almost fake in the way it contrasts with his skin. Those eyes don't settle Obito either. They've got a strange hunger to them, a strange glow that makes looking at them like flirting with death.

And Obito knows it's contacts lenses that are making his pupils slits like a cat's, but it stills unsettles him.

"You've got a new boyfriend, I see," Orochimaru is, however, not paying any attention to Obito. He grits his teeth at the comment but with Deidara's hand tightening around his arm - oh, he didn't even realize Deidara didn't let go - he knows enough to keep his mouth shut. "You're moving on quite quickly."

Deidara scoffs, and though he seems like he's confident in the conversation, he takes a step back from the sickly man and deeper into Obito's personal space. "I don't see what I could have moved on from, hm," Deidara sneers, his other hand clenching the dango skewer so tightly that his knuckles have turned white.

Obito worries for half a second that Deidara might be considering stabbing the stick into Orochimaru's eye. He also worries that he wouldn't really want to protest against the action. Just the mere presence of Orochimaru is enough to cause anyone to feel irritated at the air of superiority the pale graduate seems to think he has over everyone else.

Orochimaru isn't deterred from the attempted insult - Obito thinks it's an insult, he doesn't have much knowledge of Deidara's previous dating history - and continues on as though Deidara hasn't said anything at all.

"You sure do have a taste in boys," Orochimaru waves his hand. "They're all so brooding."

"He's not-" Deidara tries to say, visibly growing irritated, but Obito places a hand on Deidara's shoulder and cuts him off, urging his schoolmate to save it. He knows Orochimaru isn't someone to really tangle with.

Deidara clicks his tongue, letting Obito step forward. "Listen," Obito says slowly, chewing on the remaining bits of his dango. "You got the same taste in boys, too. So I don't think you're in any position to insult him."

Before Orochimaru could respond, however, Obito twists his arms out of Deidara's grasp and takes hold of his wrist, leading the younger away from the school gate, ending the conversation abruptly with the help of saying, "we'll be leaving, then."

"Have fun on your fucking date," Orochimaru shouts when they're far enough away from the gate.

"Yeah, we will," Obito shouts back, flipping Orochimaru off even if he's not sure the man would even see it.

Deidara watches Obito for the longest time, long after they've left the school's vicinity. But when he doesn't say anything all the while, Tobi doesn't think it's his right to urge him.

Obito doesn't exactly know where to go, so he lets go of Deidara's wrist and let the man lead him through the station. Though it must be his imagination, Deidara seems reluctant to be walking in front of Tobi, as if he misses the feeling of Tobi's hand near his. But the feeling is as fleeting as Deidara's art philosophy and the artist heads deeper into the subway station.

Tobi follows him as always, barely paying attention to their surroundings. He is more interested in Deidara, instead. "Hey, you alright?" Obito asks, hurrying his footsteps just a little to catch up to Deidara, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Huh?" Deidara turns almost aggressively toward him, eyes wide, as though he had not expected Obito to be standing right there next to him. "Oh, nothing. I'm fine, yeah."

But there's something about the way he said it that made Tobi frown, staring intently as he waits for Deidara to continue even if he doesn't want to.

Deidara seems to sense this and sighs. "Fine, yeah," he grumbles. "One of the then-seniors threw a karaoke party, I met Orochimaru there. He was dabbling with some drugs and asked if my classmates and I wanted some. I said no and apparently that wasn't an answer he was looking for, hm."

Deidara swiped his card and entered the station, walking slowly in wait for Tobi. Once he catches up, Deidara continues. "I think that might have offended him a lot, hmm. Anyway, he must have thought Itachi and I were pals - which we aren't, hm - because he was trying to sell his drugs to him instead and glaring at me all the time, all smug-like, yeah."

Obito scoffs. "Then Itachi refused him and Orochimaru went after his little brother instead."

"I think that's what happened, yeah," Deidara mumbles, thinking for a moment. "Oh yeah, Itachi is your cousin, right? Does he ever bad-mouth me, hmm?"

"Itachi? No, we don't talk much. Even if we do, he doesn't talk about his friends," Obito shakes his head. "He's a really weird kid. I think he's gone into some sort of madness when he realized he lost his brother."

"But Sasuke shouldn't get any pity, hm," Deidara says, crossing his arms as they wait for the train to arrive at the gate, lining up behind important looking people. Everyone in this city is dressed up so formally, staring down at their glowing screens cast pale lights onto their face, their eyes vacant. "He should be really dumb for following Orochimaru."

Tobi lets out a good-natured laugh, uncaring of the way others look up at the sudden sound. "He is, isn't he?" he nods, agreeing. "Orochimaru is so obviously bad news and he somehow thinks it's cool and hipster to be with him. I think it's just his way of getting back at his older brother, and to get the attention he didn't have as a kid."

"Weird, hmm," Deidara says under his breath as the digital voice announces that the train is arriving. The sound of the wheels on the rail is pretty loud and Tobi turns his head to watch the train come, going from a pinprick of light to a zooming train in seconds. The wind from the approaching train causes some people to complain momentarily about their hair, but once the gates open, the sound of people shuffling out is enough to drown out everything.

The passengers on the platform wait patiently for the passengers onboard to get off before they themselves head inside. It is cool inside the cart, the lights offering them an almost cold atmosphere. They manage to find some seats and settle down, moving their messenger bag onto their laps when Deidara mentions to Tobi that it's a long train ride.

The cold metal seats are a shock in the winter. He could feel it through his thick winter pants. And though it is the beginning of rush hour, it seems like not a lot of people decided to sit on this train - that, or there really weren't that many people onboard.

The train is quiet, though it is to be expected. Everyone is either looking down at their phones, scrolling through endless miles with their thumbs, reading a book, or whispering in hushed tones to their friends. There isn't much noise to really indicate that it's alright for them to talk in the open.

Once the train begins to start up, the initial jerk of motion cause Deidara to collide into Tobi. He gathers himself quickly enough, though Obito couldn't help but grin oafishly at the sight of him panicking. He stops pestering him when Deidara makes it a point to not looking at his direction, making him wonder if he is regretting the choice of asking him to come with him.

A lady's voice once again rings through the cart once again, announcing the arrival of the next station. It isn't the stop, so Obito barely pays it any mind as the train comes to a halt, doors sliding open to allow passengers to get off and get on. The voice calls out again, warning people to stand back from the closing doors before sounding an alarm as the door clamps shut.

Obito is used to these noises, quickly becoming bored as his mind goes over the spoken words. Deidara doesn't seem to want to talk over the rather comfortable silence of the train, the occasional hum and pitched noise of the wheels against the rail, so Obito doesn't force him, pulling out his phone to idly scroll through his social media.

Once again on social media, he recalls reading an article about the firework festival the first time he heard about Deidara. He quickly glances at him, who looks lost in his own world, blue eyes holding an unreadable emotion. He quickly exits the app he's in and heads to a browser, looking for the exact town and date.

A couple of stops later, Obito manages to find what he's looking for. It's on for the entire two weeks, allowing visitors plenty of time to go if they so wish. They're on holiday by then, Obito confirms with himself by double-checking the school calendar. He could ask...

Well, he's asking only because it seems like something Deidara would clearly enjoy, nothing more. There really isn't any reason for him to go alone. None of these festivals are fun without a friend or two by your side. Tobi somehow is never good at making friends, not good at keeping anyone by his side.

Well, there are two, but Zetsu would definitely not go with him. They'd probably wonder why they would spend two entire days simply traveling to the town and back. If they are to go elsewhere in Japan for their winter holiday, they would most likely choose some place much closer - and much more interesting.

Fireworks, perhaps, aren't as exciting as they were when they were younger. The sense of awe diminishes over time, the passage of days making everything seem more mundane and dull, until there is nothing you can get a hold of will stop the numbness.

The cart rocks when the train emerges from underground, traveling at a speed through the city of Tokyo. Obito looks up briefly to watch the skyline, eyes focused on the way the sunlight reflects the windows of the skyscrapers, like millions of golden nuggets plastered across the buildings. Shadows flicker in the cart, and it is only when the sun stretches his that he realizes Deidara has fallen asleep.

His head rests on his shoulder, probably lolled down from the first tumble of the cart. Obito turns to watch the head of golden hair, wondering if he should wake him. No, Obito thinks. He thinks he knows where the stop is, something called Meguro or that sort. He'd just have to pay attention for both of them, then.

He moves his hands slowly, letting go of his phone on his right hand to minimize the movement of his shoulder just in case it wakes Deidara. He taps on his phone with his free hand then, quickly heading toward the phone app to call his grandmother.

As he speaks gently to his grandmother over the phone, mindful of his tone, he continues to focus on the way the city rushes past as he responds.

Some of the skyscrapers' windows are so polished, he could practically use it as a mirror. It reflects the sky perfectly, down to every cloud. He watches them through the windows, almost wonder-like. His grandmother wishes him well and tells him to have fun, and Obito barely registers it as he gives out the generic response and tells her goodbye.

He moves his gaze down as he lowers his hand, the call having been cut. He could see the train, but it almost seems like it's staying still due to the sheer size of the building. Though Obito knows it's just an optical illusion, as the tower is quite far away, it does seem like the building is following them, filling him with some sort of childlike glee.

And Tobi could swear that he could see inside the reflected train's cabin, that he could see himself and Deidara.

That his face is orange, and that Deidara is wearing his straw hat. He could also see that they're wearing matching uniforms that has nothing to do with school. Instead of their simple white dress shirt with the school logo and thick black pants, they are wearing a black cloak that is decorated with red clouds, accented with white.

Frowning, Obito immediately turns his gaze from the building to look down at himself. He finds himself wearing their school uniform, his thick jacket hugging his shoulders to ward off the cold. His eyebrows come together as he tries to make sense of it, blinking multiple times before looking back up at the building to confirm.

But the building has passed in that time, revealing nothing but a city line. Instead, the angle has changed to where the buildings behind them manage to block out the sun. He could see their reflection in the opposite window pane, once again showing the same outfit.

It's the same outfit as... as with his other dreams. Obito tries to make sense of it all despite his confusion and sudden sense of dizziness, but the reflection seems vivid enough. The train rocks once and everything around him flickers. When he once again focuses on their reflection, everything has turned back to normal. His reflection is wearing his school uniform and nothing seems out of place.

Feeling awfully disorientated and possibly even going to develop a killer headache if he thinks about it any more, Obito sighs dramatically and rests his head on his messenger bag, trying to stop his mind from hurting itself in its confusion.

He must have stayed like that for quite some time, staring at the ground as though there is some picture show displayed across the marbled floor of the train because, by the time he came to, Deidara is already awake and lightly prodding him in the side.

Obito blinks and watches Deidara, and the two lock gazes for a while, just simply staring and not saying anything. Eventually, Tobi's eyebrows furrow and his confusion must have brought Deidara back from whatever reverie he is having, for he turns away and gestures to a random window.

Tobi thinks he's trying to point at the LED display for the next stop.

"We're almost there, yeah," Deidara says hurriedly, leaning back against his seat as he puts his hand back down. "It's the next stop."

"Okay," Tobi says, cheerily. He takes a look at the LED display and makes a note of the station name. Meguro Station, huh?

Obito isn't quite familiar with places around Japan despite living in the country. He doesn't go out much, ever since he moved to Tokyo. He just didn't see the point to, leaving the city unexplored. Until the second year of high school, Obito didn't have any friends. Even when he starting spending time with Nagato, Yahiko, and Konan, enough so that they could be considered more than just acquaintances, he didn't really go out of his way to hang out with them during the weekends, or the holidays.

He didn't have any real friends. He still doesn't, knowing that Dokuzetsu isn't exactly thrilled to have him around, despite Jozetsu's eagerness.

He frowns, glancing at Deidara. Perhaps... Ah, what is he thinking? Snapping himself out of that particular thought, he notices the rapidly approaching station and gets up when Deidara does, trailing after him like a lost puppy to stand by the train doors.

When the train reaches the station, they walk out in an orderly fashion to head toward the exit, Tobi looking around the area meanwhile.

"Say, do you come here often?" Tobi asks, turning to face Deidara.

"Not that often, yeah," Deidara responds, looking at the direction plate to confirm which exit they're heading out. He pokes Tobi's arm when he doesn't get the cue to start moving and together they walk out of the station, hobbling through the gates. "Actually, I don't think I ever came here."

"Then how do you know to come here?" Tobi continues the conversation once they reach the streets, squinting his eyes against the remaining rays of the sun. He doesn't even know where the museum is, so he's stuck to wonder behind Deidara, making sure he wouldn't lose him in the crowd.

"I follow an artist on social media and he posted a few months ago that he would have a few pieces of his art moved over to be displayed at the Meguro Museum of Art, hm. I've been following him for a while now, and I'm very interested in his art series - he calls it the 'Sharingan' series, so I wanted to know if it's truly that good, yeah," Deidara says.

So, he wants to see if his artwork can be compared to those of the creator of the 'Sharingan' series, huh? Tobi looks at Deidara curiously, wondering why he often needs such validation. Deidara must know that his artwork is truly amazing, right?

He keeps silent on his thoughts and simply nods in response to Deidara's words. "So you're just going to the museum for the temporary exhibition?" Tobi asks instead. "Is there anything else in the museum?"

"Well, yeah," Deidara says pointedly, apparently already annoyed at the fact that Tobi is clearly clueless about how art museum works. "It's a museum. There are permanent collections in their gallery and sometimes they either lend exhibits from other museums or accept/invite independent artists' work to be displayed, hm."

"Huh," Obito nods, dodging a worried-looking woman as she rushes down the street. "That's interesting, I guess."

"You don't care, do you, hmm?" Deidara says accusingly and he would wave a finger in his face if they aren't walking on a busy Tokyo street.

"No! Of course, I care. I always care about what senpai cares about," Tobi says in a teasing, sing-song voice. He laughs at Deidara's halfhearted attempts at swatting him away and they travel the rest of the way in fits of laughter, catching the attention of some passersby.

After around a ten-minute walk from the station, twisting and turning to heaven knows where they finally come to the museum. It isn't awfully impressive, but Obito isn't one to judge on exterior appearances. He follows Deidara's lead and enters the building, noting the concrete and perhaps even wondering if it's built a long time ago.

The familiar hushed tone that comes along with the atmosphere of museums is something Obito has expected the moment Deidara mentioned it. While he hasn't been in many museums in his lifetime, Obito isn't a stranger to the respectful silence in admiring some form of art.

A library could quite possibly be viewed as a museum of some sort, only that you can touch the exhibits and bring them home with you. It does carry a similar hush and a sense of importance when you enter its premises, however.

During his time in simply getting lost in the museum's air, Obito manages to completely be oblivious to Deidara purchasing the entrance ticket. It isn't really that expensive per person, but Tobi feels slightly guilty for not paying attention and making Deidara pay for the both of them.

Deidara simply ignores his whispered protests and immediately heads upstairs. It seems like he knows where he is going, so Tobi promptly shuts up before he manages to ditch him. He doesn't want to get lost in this three-story building. It would be the most embarrassing for him to wander around, not knowing what to do with himself.

He has never been to an art museum before, after all.

With some twists and turns after heading up the stairs, Deidara comes to a stop in front of a giant red ball held up by a plastic stand. A single thin line wraps around the front of the ball, three comma-shaped dots painted along the line to surround the bigger dot in the front. It almost looks like an eyeball.

It seems... very familiar.

That horrific eye. The single eye lodged in the weird, cone shaped body. Except this one is red, sending an undignified shiver down his spine. It almost feels like it is looking right at him, despite being an inanimate object.

Stopping right next to Deidara, he rubs his temples in order to soothe a headache that is already beginning to form, his gaze focusing solely on the sculpture.

Deidara is oddly quiet, just studying the thing with an unreadable expression on his face. But, as Obito turns to look at him in order to distract himself from the artwork, it seems to him that it isn't a positive expression, isn't of someone who's allowing himself to openly admire the work.

"This isn't the only one he's done, yeah," Deidara says when he sees that Tobi is looking at his direction, waving his hand to point at many other exhibitions that display a similar red circle, or sphere, but they all hold multiple designs on the front.

It seems like they all have names, too. Huh, this selection seems interesting. Obito wanders over to an area Deidara pointed out, reading the tag underneath.

Mangekyo Sharingan...

What an... interesting name. Obito squeezes his eyes shut when another stabbing pain shoots through his temples. His mind's eye has the image burned, forever focusing on it.

Obito remembers gazing into the red sphere - spheres, there are two of them... like eyeballs - and feeling a sinister feeling crawl up his spine. The power they held, the wisdom they had...

He remembers gazing into the mirror, his own eye glowing red. Only one.

Reaching up, Obito feelings a stinging feeling in his left eye, but there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it. He eventually just settles with pinching the bridge of his nose, trying to will the headache away.

Eventually, it does. The stabbing pain in his head subsides when Deidara comes up next to him, almost like he himself cannot bear to be alone. He glares at the artwork hung up on the wall, the spotlight reflecting the hatred in his eyes.

Obito lets his hand fall back to his side, a curious expression now on his face. Why does Deidara look like he wants to rip these pieces of artwork down and burn it? Wasn't he interested in the artwork?

But then again, just because you're interested doesn't mean that you have to like it...

Tobi decides to keep his questions to himself, thinking much more clearly now that his head is no longer killing him. He refrains from staring at the artwork any longer, determined that is the cause of his discomfort. Instead, he watches Deidara.

His beauty would suffice as a replacement for the dangerous strength of the artwork that this mysterious artist created. Tobi could not care one bit about the 'Sharingan,' or its ocular powers and beauty.

Eventually, Deidara has had his full of simply looking at the artwork and declares to Tobi that he's done and that they should leave. Tobi agrees happily and trails after Deidara, but not before glancing at the artist's name before they leave the area altogether.

Uchiha Madara.

Obito isn't disturbed at the same last name. There are millions of people who share the same last name yet are not related at all. However, the emotions he feels rushing through him at the mere glance of the words made him uneasy.

He feels grateful yet at the same time angry, a feeling of betrayal rushing through his veins. He feels as though he is supposed to fear this name, yet also finds that this name is something that has protected him for a long time, that had helped him.

Obito shakes the feeling off, hurrying after Deidara, who had gone on ahead without him when he stopped walking.

After catching up, Tobi doesn't say anything when it feels like Deidara is staying a little bit closer to him than usual.

It is only a matter of time.

* * *

Hey guys, Red here!

Aw man, it's been like, what, nearly five, six months since the last update? I'm so sorry for the delay, but I've been busy... doing stuff. Er, I've been busy doing nothing. But listen, from February to April, I had been busy with exams and after it finished, I basically 'partied' my way through to July.

While writing this, I encountered several difficulties which might have made this chapter rather bad. First of all, it had been a while since I started this chapter and I often forget what I've written, which would break continuity. I keep having to go back and search for things which take up time, making the chapter sit longer than necessary. Secondly, I originally planned for this fic to be only three chapters long. However, you can see that it is no longer the case. I have planned for several things to happen during this chapter but once halfway through the dinner scene and beginning the museum scene, I realized that it will become way too long. I have separated the ideas now and this will become a five chapter fic.

Third of all, I have re-written the encounter with Orochimaru many times. It is important enough for me to want to keep it in since it shows you the attachment between Tobi and Deidara, but somehow I can't seem to portray the pseudo-homophobic comments they're making with English. It feels much more offensive and aggressive in my mother language, which is similar to Japanese.

Anyway, this chapter has become way longer than I thought it would be, so editing it was a pain. I had Grammarly run through the basic grammar issues, but I didn't get to personally read through it thoroughly myself. I read through the first part and the encounter with Orochimaru multiple times, but that's about it. If there are any issues you find during the train ride and the museum visit itself (due to me finishing that scene at 1 am), then apologizes for that.

I'll start working on Chapter 4 post-haste.

Thanks for reading and feel free to drop a review,  
-redskiez:)


	4. Re:calling

Although Tobi already knows when and where the art exhibition is going to take place, Deidara still spends his time handing him an invitation card, telling him proudly that he has a hand in creating it.

It certainly looks stylish enough. It's a small, rectangular card with a transparent sheet of plastic in the shape of a circle embedded inside it. The details regarding the exhibition and the name the graduates have chosen for it is printed on the transparent sheet.

And while it's completely unnecessary, because Deidara never lets Tobi forget the date and the principal have already allowed posters to be put up around the school that contains the same information as the invitation card, Tobi still appreciates the gesture.

It was almost cute as he watches Deidara, he's acting like he's shy and wondering aloud if Tobi would even go. Of course, he would go, Obito hadn't even considered an alternative to what he'd be doing on December 8th, anyway.

"Are you hinting that maybe I should go?" Tobi asks in a sing-song tune, humming it out as he leans in closer to Deidara, almost accusingly at this point.

"No! Hmm!" Deidara grunts, trying to back away from his friend and sporting quite an impressive shade of red on his cheeks. "I was just wondering, yeah. Ugh, if you're going to be a problem and acting like this during the exhibition, I'd rather you not go! You're going to embarrass me, hm."

"Aw but senpai," Tobi whines, closing in on Deidara easily since he's halfheartedly trying to get away. "Whatever you do, I always want to support you! If I cannot be there, then I cannot do that."

Deidara clicks his tongue, annoyed but doesn't bother to free himself when Tobi wraps his arms around his shoulders, only pretending that he hates it as he frowns. "If you keep doing this, then I won't be able to do anything worthwhile during the exhibition and you won't be able to be proud of me, hmm."

Tobi is fully prepared to tease Deidara even further, but Obito is aware of their surroundings and keeps himself reined in. "It's okay, Deidara," he purrs instead, his voice going just a tad bit more quiet, almost whispering in his ear. "I'm proud of everything you do."

It is then that Deidara struggles in his arms, twisting away and revealing a flushed face. "Weirdo, hmm!" Deidara huffs, crossing his arms once he's a safe distance away from Obito. He cools off pretty soon after that, but it doesn't seem like the pink hue on his cheeks is leaving anytime soon. "Whatever. Come if you want to, hm," he says dismissively, waving his arm and then turning around to head off, probably back to the art room.

Obito takes that as _you better show up, or else you're going to get blown to pieces, yeah._

Well, he better not disappoint, then.

88

The art exhibition isn't as exciting as he thought it would be, though he doesn't know why he thought it would be like a party in the first place. It is like a museum, except the artists aren't famous and the questions they answer are mostly from parents.

It's an open day of sorts, Obito muses as he stands next to one of Deidara's artworks, pretending to admire it but instead making himself feel even more confused. Instead, he eyes the people around him. They're mostly parents who have taken time off work to show up at their kid's show.

Sasori's grandmother and her brother have come to support her grandson, but it seems like Chiyo is very moved by his piece 'Mama and Papa.' It's somehow shocking to Obito that this is the first time she has seen it. With the protective aura surrounding the old woman, Obito thought she would be like his own grandmother, asking about Sasori's school progress whenever she got the chance to.

Ah well, he shouldn't be judging other people's lives. Maybe Sasori is quiet at home, unwilling to talk about his feelings because he lost his parents. Obito would never understand, he has never personally met his parents. For as long as he could remember, Obito only has his grandparents. He doesn't mind at all.

Turning back around to look at Deidara's artwork, he tries to concentrate on the white bit on the dark creature's face. Is that a mask? Probably. Obito couldn't really tell.

It sports the same face of most of Deidara's work: large, gaping holes as eyes, a simple line near the bottom of the 'face' that is supposed to be a smile, and some semblance of a nose if he feels like adding any.

Right. Maybe he's not cut out to enjoy anything that isn't what the majority of humanity deems 'aesthetically pleasing.'

He huffs, crossing his arm as he continues to have a one-sided staring contest with Deidara's work until he could hear him from his stand, laughing.

Tobi perks up almost immediately, but he stays where he is. He doesn't want to bother Deidara too much, knowing that he's busy with... whatever that is he needs to do. Probably answering curious passerby's questions. As he understood it, it is indeed like an open day type of exhibition. Outsiders can come in for free to admire the artworks, too.

He doesn't recognize the person Deidara is talking to, so he assumes that she's a passerby that had some time to spend. Did she say something funny? Why is Deidara laughing like that? Tobi doesn't like that. Only he can make his Deidara laugh like that.

Obito pauses, brows scrunching together at the wording of his own thoughts. That's kind of weird, why did he think that Deidara is his? Shaking the thought away before it can do any more damage, Tobi begins to wander over to Deidara, who is trying to wrap up the conversation with the woman.

When Tobi comes to sight, Deidara is obviously a little happier. He waves his arm at him and then says something along the lines of his friend asking for his attention before saying goodbye to the woman and hurries over to his side.

"Thank the heavens you decided to finally come over, hm," Deidara says in a scolding tone, slapping Tobi's bicep. Tobi lets out a half-hearted 'ow' makes a show of rubbing his arm. "That woman would not stop being weird, yeah."

"Oh, was she hitting on you?" Tobi grins, but the words leave a strange feeling in his heart.

"Worse, hmm," Deidara grunts, making sweat gather on Tobi's forehead. "She's trying to set up a date between me and her younger brother, yeah."

Obito frowns, unconsciously stepping closer to Deidara. He doesn't seem to notice - or if he did, didn't care. "Well, that's annoying," Obito agrees.

"Right? Straight people seem to think that we need help with dating, hmm, pairing up one gay person with another that they know," Deidara scoffs. "I told her multiple times that I'm not interested in dating right now, but when it enters her left ear it just comes out her right one, yeah!"

If frowning really could give you wrinkles, Obito really doesn't care right now. He bites his lower lip in thought. Deidara's not interested in dating, huh?

"It's as though it doesn't matter to her that I barely know her - or her brother, yeah," Deidara continues, shaking his head. "Anyway, hmm, you must be bored. I saw you trying to fight your brain trying to understand my first work, yeah. It's fine, though, I literally made that only because I thought it would look cool, hmm. I made the meaning up when the teacher asked us to present it.

"Anyway, come over, hmm," he beckons Tobi to his stand, gesturing to the chair that's meant for Deidara to use when there isn't anyone around, or during their lunch break. "You should doodle on my notebook, yeah."

"This feels like I don't have a choice," Tobi laughs, sitting down and dragging the book across the clothed table, opening it to a new page. Seems like either Deidara successfully made people write messages on the other pages, or they did it on their own.

"It'll be a waste of money and time if I take this back home with only two pages of notes, yeah," Deidara waves away his potential kidnapping. "You know how expensive Muji is selling their things now? Unbelievably expensive, hm, so just fill the pages to make it look like it's worth it."

"Okay," Tobi laughs again, grabbing one of the pens Deidara put out and starts drawing. He's not much of an artist - or else why would he choose mathematics as his electives? - so he's limited to drawing stick figures all around the page.

He draws one holding a sword, fighting a crudely drawn dragon. He draws another one meditating underneath a tree, even scribbling down 'hum' next to him so that it looks like he's the real deal.

As he begins to turn the pages since he's drawing huge smiling suns everywhere, his stick figures somehow look a little less... stick-like. Eventually, Obito tries his hand on putting clothes on them, and then hair.

He draws a stick figure meant to resemble Deidara yelling at a stick figure meant to represent himself. He continues the story by drawing beneath them, trying to convey the message of Stick Obito buying Stick Deidara ice cream so that he won't be mad anymore.

Grinning at the rather cute image he's conjured, he ends it with Stick Obito holding hands with Stick Deidara, enjoying the shared ice cream.

His mind begins to wander for a moment, thinking about the time Deidara paid for his dango, wondering if he should repay the favor even though it's supposed to be Deidara's payment for Obito accompanying him to the museum.

As he thinks about whether or not he should get Deidara ice cream - no matter that it's the dead of winter - he doesn't realize that he's beginning to doodle something else.

His drawing of a mask with a swirl design is exactly what you'd expect. A simple drawing of a mask with a swirl design, of course. He stares at it for the longest time, glancing at an orange pen that Deidara has in his collection of pens.

He thinks about letting it go but somehow couldn't stop himself from reaching over and picking it up. The cap pops off easily in his left hand and he colors in the white gaps, turning the white, colorless mask into an orange one.

The way it stares blankly back at him, the lone eye-hole almost judging him, makes him shiver.

After the strange feeling passes, he feels his head beginning to hurt. An almost insistent throbbing right behind his forehead. It hurts just to the point of being a nuisance, rather than a cause for concern. He moves to cover the drawing.

Obito senses the connection between his untimely headaches with real life things that seem to mirror his dreams. Though he hasn't dreamed those weird dreams again since he finally got to spend time with Deidara, they have manifested in a different way - leaking into his life.

It's hard to tell if he's honestly still awake since some of the things he thought he saw are so outlandish that he must be in a dream. But when Deidara brushes against him he turns and sees whatever thing he might have seen has disappeared.

So either he removes the thing that is real, or he snaps himself out of the daze he is in, in order to get the image to disappear.

But before Obito could get rid of it, Deidara is already in front of him, almost as though he had teleported there in a puff of smoke. He leans over the table and grabs the notebook from Tobi's hands, staring down at what he's doodled.

Something in Deidara's expression makes Obito feel very, very uncomfortable. Tobi stands up and touches Deidara's arm, and the expression is replaced by a look of curiosity.

It feels as though he's hiding something. Obito doesn't voice it out, however, continuing to look at Deidara with a questioning expression.

"Why'd you draw this, yeah?" Deidara asks, and though Obito doesn't what he's referring to, he could feel every pore in his body tighten in fear and worry that he's referring to the mask.

How does he answer his question when he doesn't even know why he drew it? He just did. It didn't make sense. Obito might have been good at omitting the truth, but he doesn't know how to lie. Not telling the truth is different from lying, and you cannot not tell the truth if someone is asking you a question directly targeting the problem that you're trying to not talk about.

Tobi opens his mouth uselessly, but before he could even say anything, Deidara waves his hand dismissively. "I mean, why did you draw us holding hands, yeah?" he corrects himself.

Obito could tell that Deidara is lying, but he could help but feel relieved that Deidara doesn't seem to want to talk about the little doodle either. "What do you mean?" Tobi prompts.

"Here, yeah," Deidara says, lowering the notebook so that Tobi could see. He points to one of the earlier drawings that Obito made, the one that illustrated the story of Obito making Deidara forgive him by sharing ice cream with him.

"Oh," Obito blinks, once again at a loss for words. "I-"

Deidara laughs and cuts him off before he could even explain himself. "Is this you trying to say you want to hold my hand, yeah?" he grins, all smug.

Obito could only sputter, suddenly finding his tongue tied in a knot. "Wh- No!"

"It's okay, admit that you think I'm cool, hmm," Deidara laughs again, but Obito finds it strange. It is as though it is not really a laugh, more like he is forcing it.

Obito recognizes this as a ploy to distract. Tobi gladly plays along with it, standing up straight. "Well, so are you saying that you are allowing me to hold your hand?"

It is Deidara's turn to get flustered, but he handles it much better than Obito. Well, it's not a surprise, seeing as Obito doesn't usually get advances since he closes himself off to the rest of the world. Deidara probably has some experiences when it comes to _flirting._

Oh heavens, is this the fabled _flirting_?

"Why don't you find out, hmm?" Deidara grins. Before they could continue the conversation, Deidara is already being called away by a schoolmate. As he turns to leave, Obito could not get over the fact that he very much likes the pink that dusts Deidara's cheeks.

The art exhibition is supposed to last for three days. Obito shows up all three days, much to Deidara's joy.

On the last day, Deidara and the other art students help shut off the lights and lock the doors, with Obito just standing idly outside since he's technically not allowed to be inside after opening hours.

And though he's slightly positive that Dokuzetsu would not mind as much, and won't go ratting him out to Principal Ōtsutsuki - seriously, what's the guy's deal on insisting to be the principal's pet - he doesn't want to risk it just in case the dark twin is in a rather foul mood.

He has never been as easy to manage as Jozetsu, but Dokuzetsu has become less and less agreeable and rational as of late.

It is as though he's upset that he's losing control of something.

The thoughts banish themselves from his mind once Deidara and his classmates pool out of the building, chattering about someone's encounter with a visitor, mocking their voice and questions.

Deidara breaks away from the group without even saying a word, hurrying over to Obito's side. He shoves his phone back into his back pocket as he greets Deidara, an easy smile already on his face.

He always smiles automatically when Deidara enters the picture.

Winter is here and Tokyo is taken to drizzling light snow. Everyone is wearing some sort of down jacket or other thick clothes, and Obito and Deidara are no different. Given that it is night time already, it's getting even colder.

"Hey," Obito greets Deidara verbally as they begin to walk out of the school, his breath pushing steam through the air. "Are you cold?"

"Freezing, yeah," Deidara grins, shrugging his shoulders so that he can tuck his head between them. "I forgot my scarf, hmm."

"A clever ploy," Obito notes but still reaches up to take off his scarf and wrapping it around Deidara's neck.

Deidara hums at the warmth and digs his hand into his blue jacket's pocket, taking out a slightly crumpled piece of plastic coated paper. "Here, hm," he breathes, holding it out to Tobi.

Tobi takes it into his gloved hand and holds it close to his face, trying to catch it in the streetlights as they walk. He sees that it is a ticket to the school show, the Merchant of Venice, something that is hard to get a hold of since the tickets are in high demand.

While it is a first come, first serve system for getting tickets, Deidara told Obito a few days ago that actors do get free tickets, but they're only limited to two - for the parents.

Since both of Deidara's parents would be going, Deidara had to do some favors in order to get the third one.

Speaking of parents, Obito had apparently been too busy drawing to notice that Deidara had been talking with his parents on the first day - about him.

That is rather strange. Deidara won't tell him anything more about it, but Obito hoped that his parents don't think he's rude for not coming over to say hi.

"Great," Tobi pulls out his wallet to shove the ticket inside. "Thanks, I'll arrive very early to find a perfect spot to nap."

"Ugh, don't you dare, hm," Deidara rolls his eyes, teasingly nudging his shoulder at Tobi's side. "You snore, so you're going to disturb everyone's experience, yeah."

"You hurt my feelings, senpai," Tobi complaints, putting a hand over his heart to portray the 'hurt' his heart has suffered. "If I do start snoring and you start scolding me, it would be a great comedy experience for the audience. You should thank me."

"Shut up, you ass, yeah," Deidara grunts, shoving his hands into his pockets. "And stop saying that, or else people will think that you're a school girl who's in love with her senpai."

"Oh, you know you love it, senpai," Tobi leans in closer, wrapping his arm around Deidara's shoulder. "And what if I am?"

Even though Tobi could see that Deidara is trying hard to suppress it, he's still smiling. "Don't be gay, hmm," Deidara tries to sound mean instead, but it's not working at all.

Obito laughs at that, patting Deidara's shoulder. He lets go though, sensing that he might not be the biggest fan of physical contact and lets his armrest on his side.

Even though it's a relatively cold night, with snowflakes gently resting on their shoulders, they don't find the need to hurry indoors or go underground. It might come back to bite them in the ass later, but Obito doesn't care. He gets to walk next to Deidara.

That's something he never realized he would treasure so much. It is as though he has done this for the longest time, heart yearning for it every time he isn't doing it.

And there is always an inkling of fear that he will never, ever get to do it again.

In a subtle movement, Deidara pulls his hands out of his pockets, cupping them around his mouth to breathe warm air into them. They look rather pale and Obito knows it's probably from the cold.

The weather forecast did mention the temperature drop this morning, and it is assumed to wear thicker clothing given that it is December... Why does Deidara have such little clothing on? Jeez, this guy.

Obito sighs inwardly, stepping just a little bit closer to Deidara. When Deidara lowers his hands again, he takes a deep breath and rubs the back of his gloved palm against the knuckles of Deidara's right hand.

He couldn't sense anything in the cold, but Deidara is only shoving his left hand back into his pocket, leaving his right one hanging out.

After a few more moments of just brushing, Deidara seems to get tired of Obito's stalling and twists his wrist, slipping his hand into Obito's slightly larger one.

An extra blanket of silence falls over them after that, almost sinful. Obito holds his breath and tries to will the tingling feelings away, and pretends that the redness in his cheeks is caused only by the coldness that surrounds them.

Deidara is blushing too, he could see it from the corner of his eye. He could also see that he's stealing glances at their hands, too. Obito didn't want to look yet.

"Hey," Deidara suddenly speaks up, but his voice is a quiet tone, barely above a whisper. "The glove's cold, yeah."

Obito looks away, wondering for a moment if he should let go of Deidara's hand to take off his glove or should he just take it off without moving his arm. But he isn't allowed the split-second decision because Deidara is moving again, removing his hand from Obito's grasp and digging his fingers into the opening of the glove, slipping in.

"Cold!" Obito complaints, but otherwise does not stop Deidara from burrowing his hand into his glove. He's quite surprised that these things that his grandmother bought him are stretchy enough for this.

With their skin touching now - Deidara can only insert his fingers, so now they wrap expertly around his palm - he's extremely aware of how soft Deidara's skin is.

Maybe he puts on lotion all the time since he's dealing with water and clay. He might want to keep his skin healthy and not dry and calloused with the exposure.

Whatever the reason, it's really soft and it's getting warmer by the second. Obito wants to say his body heat has something to do with it, but he is also willing to bargain that the pretty blush that is spreading across Deidara's features has a hand in it.

Haha, hand. Get it? Obito tries not to snicker to himself. Instead, he tries to squeeze Deidara's hand experimentally, feeling his fingers between the layers of his gloves.

Obito dwells in his mind. He knows having a glove on will not be as good as holding hands with nothing in between, but how does he say that he wants to hold his hand again later, when he doesn't have gloves on, without sounding like a creep?

He could take his glove off now, but maybe that would defeat the purpose because Deidara is 'seeking warmth.' So he tries something else.

Out of all his experiences with this 'Ninja World,' Obito has noticed one thing. He remembers things that have not yet happened to him yet, things that are relevant to him.

He remembers seeing red when he looks in the mirror, he remembers that there is a reason why he is not close with Uchiha Itachi, he remembers Uchiha Madara's name. He remembers spending time with Deidara. He remembers the fire he holds, the speech pattern in which he speaks with. He remembers, despite having never seen it before, despite having never heard it before.

He misses things that he has yet to encounter.

So Obito tries now, to remember if he could remember how Deidara's hand feel in his own. If he could recall the softness of his palm, perhaps even his own natural warmth.

But Obito does not remember anything.

And for a moment he wonders if something is wrong. For a moment, he continues to wonder but stops when he feels that it will break his mind if he continues. There is no reason to go down this dangerous fantasy path if he can live in today.

Besides, dreams are always unpredictable. Obito thinks that he read somewhere online that dreams take aspects of your days and turn them into a subconscious picture show. All the faces that you see in your dreams are the faces you see every day.

Your brain is unable to create new people. He only knows Deidara because of his infamous status in the school, remembered his speech because of his shows.

That is it and nothing else.

Deidara doesn't say anything when they reach the entrance of his apartment building, simply standing next to Tobi, their hands still in each others'. He's staring up at the building, probably counting mentally where his windows would be before stopping right there.

The lights are on. His parents have returned home from their business trip, but for some reason, Deidara didn't tell him it directly, so it was indeed a surprise to hear that his parents had been there on the first day of the exhibition.

"Deidara," Tobi says softly, squeezing his hand to catch his attention.

His fellow schoolmate turns and looks at him for a while, almost like he is getting to see his face for the first time and is determined to study it in order to remember every single feature that his face bears.

"What's wrong?" Obito speaks up again, nudging Deidara lightly in an attempt to snap him out of whatever trance he is in.

Deidara doesn't move to show that he is out of any trance, but then again, Obito isn't even sure he is in one, to begin with. He simply cracks a small smile, a soft smile soaked in pain, before parting his lips to speak.

"I don't want to go home yet, hm."

What a strange thing to say. Obito frowns at the pain that is evident in Deidara's voice, but he does not understand the source of it. He is not unhappy at home. His parents love him no matter who he is. The pictures on their shelves say so.

He is not bullied at school and unable to tell his parents about it, either. If Deidara is bullied, then Obito would be one of the first people to know since he spends nearly every second of his time that isn't spent in class with him. Sure, it is controversial to be so open about your sexuality that defies what society likes to consider as 'normal,' but it seems like no one at school is brave enough to even open their mouths in front of Deidara, so it can't be bullying.

If it's the snide comments or black-mouthing that people say when his back is turned, then it wouldn't make sense. Deidara is frighteningly good at ignoring things that happen around him - and even to him - to get to his own goals.

Obito somehow feels that that trait will be the death of Deidara.

"Where do you want to go, then?" Tobi asks instead of 'why?'

"Anywhere," Deidara says above the gentle wind, in a tone that Obito does not know how to deny.

They spent the night at a park until it gets too cold to stay out. They grab a hot chocolate from a coffee shop before it closes as well, slowly trekking through the slippery pavement.

They don't say anything else, rather content with the quiet. They sip their hot chocolates, the perfect temperature for such a cold night. Obito glances to his side and watches Deidara, eyes softening.

He was going through something, but it doesn't alarm Obito at all. It's almost as though he understands, even though he isn't sure what exactly the topic is. He doesn't want to say Deidara's is losing his mind just like he is himself, but a wicked side of him hopes that he is not alone when it comes to seeing strange creatures in his dreams bleeding into reality.

They eventually wander back into Deidara's apartment complex, with him letting out a sneeze to show that it is indeed getting way too cold. Obito finally lets go of his hand, patting his shoulder. "Go now," he coaxes. "Your parents will be worried for you."

"They don't give a damn about me, yeah," Deidara scoffs, but he does not elaborate further or goes against Obito's words. He obeys and turns to head deeper inside his complex, but he stops just a few paces in and turns back to stare at Tobi.

He just looks at him, like he is thinking about something, debating. Obito wonders what it is and he is going to ask before Deidara apparently decides that it's not really worth it and turns to leave once more.

He doesn't look back until he's at the gate. Tobi waves a little goodbye and manages to make Deidara smile a little.

Somehow, that makes it all better.

88

The cheap plastic tickets that the school hands out do not have seat numbers printed on them. Rather, the only numbers on there are the time and the ticket number. In order to really get the good seats, which is as far back as possible, you'd have to arrive really early and claim it before anyone else.

Obito knows from experience that the best seats are in the middle. So, abusing his status as a student and staying at school until it's time for the doors to open to pounce, he manages to land himself his usual seat when he watches Deidara practice.

Of course, Mrs. Sarutobi would be seated right next to him, eyes twinkling teasingly, so it is rather weird to be sitting alone tonight. Or at least for the moment. Family members are always unpredictable and they'd bring their own parents, or even siblings or cousins just to make everything seem more alive.

They allow a buffer time between the actual beginning of the show and the opening of the doors. Obviously, it's for people to slowly and orderly filter in and get seated before the show starts, or for giving latecomers a second chance.

So, during this void time, Obito fishes out his phone from his pocket and begins texting Deidara. He's been doing that non-stop after he was whisked away in order to prepare for the show, and Deidara did manage to get a few texts in reply before he's once again forced to put his phone down.

Though he isn't even sure if Deidara would be able to get to his phone right before performing, he sends a barrage of greetings and "how are you feeling"s to him anyway.

Obito looks up when a couple wants to get past him to get to the seats further to the side. He tucks his feet in and allows the couple to pass. When he looks down at his phone after they do, he finds that he received a few messages.

Deidara sent a bunch of sad faces, as well as the nervous face that has its face all scrunched up. " _Nervous,_ " he writes as a follow-up text. " _I can hear that there are a lot of people outside._ "

" _You can do it!_ " Tobi types up quickly, sending the message and adding an oil station emoji for good measure. Before talking to Deidara, Obito has never even used emotions save for the occasional smiling face.

He gets a pleased face that is tossing a bunch of sparkles around.

He is about to type something in return again, but one of the teachers stationed to be staff that night manages to catch his eye and motions for him to put away his electronic device.

Obito ducks his head down quickly and turns off the brightness of his phone just in case they could see it reflect on his face from afar and waits for Deidara's next message, since the typing bubble keeps popping up once and a while.

" _I gotta go,_ " Deidara eventually sends. " _Final check-ups. See you when it's over._ "

Obito sends him a fighter emoticon and tells him to do his best. He sees that Deidara saw the message before he went offline and he can't help but imagine him smiling through the final routines.

After Obito puts his phone back into his pocket, an announcer steps up onto the stage and tells the audience to either turn off their electronic devices or mute them so that it won't disturb the rest of the crowd.

He can hear shuffling around him as parents and students alike scramble to turn their phones to silent and dim the display brightness to match the darkening room.

After a while, everything goes quiet when the announcer speaks up again. He's thanking the audience for taking the time to come and spewing out a basic and quick introduction of the play.

Though he isn't sure that the crowd needs it, Obito brushes it off as weird school writing - because he knows that all the master of ceremony's scripts has to go through the principal, no matter what kind of ceremony it is - that is aimed to impress with the sheer impressiveness of knowledge.

When the announcer is done spewing out the rest of his bullshit, he bows, and steps off the stage. The rest of the lights turn off and only the spotlights that are directed to the stage remain.

And thus the show begins.

It isn't any different than the 'shows' Tobi gets to see. Sure, they now don fancy outfits that seem more appropriate for a time when Shakespeare is still alive, and they no longer carry around their scripts, but other than that everything is the same.

Sure, he could spot a few mess-ups but he doubts the rest of the audience noticed because they didn't get to read the script or see the practices. He doubts that any of the people here knows every single line of dialogue and monologue from Merchant of Venice by heart.

Still, it's merely a school play. The sheer fact that they managed to gather enough kids that are interested in joining and have the talent to remain is impressive enough. Obito doesn't need to be any more critical about it.

Though he will say that Deidara is surely the best one out of them all. All these other kids seem like blabbering idiots when they stand next to him, kind of like Tobi himself.

Or maybe he's just an idiot from the start.

88

After the show ends, Obito wanders around the cafeteria area while waiting for Deidara to be done with whatever he has to do backstage. It is always weird to get to see the school at nighttime. It's not really an everyday thing that you get to witness. You aren't allowed to stay in school after four and teachers can't keep you after six.

At this hour, Obito gets to see the school shrouded in a complete darkness for the first time in all the years he's been in this school.

It's something spectacular. Seeing something that is supposed to be filled with noise and activity become so dead and quiet in just a couple of hours. The light and life just bleed away into the darkness as the sun descends from the sky.

Though a lot of people are beginning to appear in the cafeteria area, perhaps parents waiting on their children, but most other students chatting happily with the teachers that are responsible for the play but didn't want to stay in the theatre room because the cleaning crew has to get started.

The loudness of their chattering is also one of the reasons why they didn't want to stay in a room designed to resonate sound, it is also the reason why Obito no longer wishes to stay in the cafeteria area, even though it is much warmer than the school gates.

With a quick text, Obito heads down the stairs and steps out of the school, his sigh visible as vapor in front of him. He huffs and moves to stand beneath a lamp post, for the sake of gathering whatever warmth he could from the light.

Even though actors are supposed to stay behind to get their make up off and help clean up, Deidara manages to convince Mrs. Sarutobi to let him go early.

One of the reasons she allows it is because this is Deidara's last show. Although she wouldn't outright say that he is one of her star students, everyone kind of has a clue.

He does have a knack for everything artistic. His talents are well known, and even Onoki, one of the oldest and most bitter teachers in the school who is known to be distrustful and strict, thinks that he's impressive ever since the first year.

Rumor has it that Onoki even helped tutor Deidara when he needed the help. There are only two other students in the school other than him that get this kind of special treatment.

It is sort of unfair since Onoki is also known for his intelligence and skills. Every single student of his that he decides to teach on his own always passes exams with flying colors. If he starts a tutorial business, he no doubts would become one of the most popular tutors.

As Deidara waves to someone that Tobi cannot see from his position outside of the school, he remembers yet another whispered rumor that Deidara stopped attending those extra classes. Even though he could continue and become a straight-A student in any subject, he instead chooses to focus on his art, something that Onoki isn't that particularly good at.

Perhaps that is why Deidara quit, he thinks to himself as he watches said man head over to him, ducking his head to avoid getting noticed by passing schoolmates. He seems to know what he wants, and is completely sure and confident in his steps, so who is Obito to judge?

"Hi," Tobi greets Deidara with a grin when the other comes close enough to hear him. Even in the darkness, he can see that Deidara immediately smiles once he hears his voice, almost jogging over to close the remaining gap between them and stopping just shy of two meters away.

"So, what did you think, hm?" Deidara asks, grinning widely. His hands are shoved in his pockets, perhaps once again fending them from the cold.

Tobi grins, looking away from Deidara and pretending to be really interested in the people passing them by. There are a few students and their parents leaving after the show, chatting animatedly about what Obito thinks is the plot of the play, or perhaps simply something else.

Obito taps at his chin with his gloved finger as he hums, as though really debating on how to answer Deidara's question as he thinks hard about it.

"Oh, I don't know," Tobi mumbles, shaking his head and turning his gaze down at the melting snow on the sidewalk. "I don't think it's awfully impressive..."

"Ugh," Deidara grunts, throwing a punch against Tobi's shoulder and causing him to whine. "You're no help at all, hm. I don't even know why I bother asking you."

"Oh, senpai," Tobi laughs, reaching out to steady Deidara when he starts to lose his balance from the sudden force of him delivering a punch on the slippery sidewalk. "You know you love it."

"I do not, yeah!" Deidara blushes, trying to steady himself on the floor. "Damn winter, hm. I cannot even stand straight."

"Probably because you're not," Tobi laughs.

"Oh har-har, you're so funny, Tobi, hm," Deidara mocks him. Though he is trying his best to look unimpressed, there is an evident smirk on his lips. "Seriously, Tobi, what did you think about my performance, yeah?"

Taking a deep breath, Tobi closes his eyes and thinks about it again. "You were amazing, senpai," Tobi grins after a few moments. He does not need to really think about his answer. There is only really one thing to say.

If he tells Deidara that it isn't really anything impressive, he would be lying. Every time he hears Deidara deliver that speech as Shylock, it makes him realize things he has never even thought existed.

A lot of people suffer just because they are a little bit different from the usual crowd. The words used made him think and consider about a lot of things, even things that don't necessarily relate to being the black sheep.

Deidara blinks and looks as though he lit up, grinning brightly and practically glowing underneath the warm yellow tint of the lamp beside them.

"Really, yeah?" he says, smiling so widely he looks as though he might split his entire head in half.

It is rather amusing that Deidara seeks such validation from Obito when it is almost plastered everywhere that he is completely successful and talented at what he does.

"Yeah," Tobi grins back, beaming under the complete attention that Deidara is giving him. He doesn't think his parents even know he's out here. He grips Deidara's elbow just a little bit tighter and feels him take a step closer to him.

"That's great, now I know that everyone thinks my performance is okay, hmm," Deidara grins wickedly.

"Just okay?" Tobi tilts his head.

"Yeah, because you have unbelievably low standards."

Tobi stops smiling, turning away from Deidara in a mock-offended huff. He senses that Deidara is wiggling in his grip and loosens his grip enough to allow him to do whatever he wants to do.

A sudden flash of light tells Obito that Deidara is checking his messages, so he remains respectful and does not steal glances at the screen. Deidara huffs and shoves his phone back into his pocket, reaching out and grabbing Tobi's forearm.

"Don't be mad, hm," Deidara says, trying to cheer Tobi up again. "We both know you wouldn't care what anything is made of, as long as it's sweet and socially accepted as edible."

"Listen," Tobi huffs, trying to make it sound like he has a great argument, but what's a good defense against eating sweets? The sugar might help him with an energy boost, but does it really mean that he has to keep a tube of candy with him at all times and take it out whenever he feels like it?

"I have a really good reason for that, okay," he continues. He usually finishes an entire tube under thirty minutes if no one stops him. "I like sweets but that doesn't necessarily mean that I have low standards."

"Oh, shut up, yeah," Deidara grins, reaching up to slap Tobi again, but Obito sees it coming and blocks his hand.

They laugh and struggle to land mock-punches on each other, and they end up leaning against each other.

"Oh shit," Deidara gasps, gripping Tobi hard. "Don't fucking let go, hm. I'm going to fall!"

"Better hold on tight then," Tobi teases, letting his grip loosen purposefully.

Deidara sputters and takes a step forward, slipping his arms around Tobi's torso to try and regain his balance.

"Motherfucker, hmm!" Deidara hisses, ramming his forehead against Tobi's chest. He stops fighting for a second, as though he realizes what position he's currently in.

Tobi doesn't move. He switches his grip on Deidara's elbows to wrap around his shoulders, keeping him close. He could feel Deidara tense for a moment before relaxing, slotting his head under Tobi's chin.

They stand there for a while, unsure how their struggling turned into a soft embrace but neither of them really moves to break it and Obito enjoys it while he can.

He tightens his grip after a while, enjoying the warmth of Deidara seeping in through the fabric of the school uniform. Nothing around them bothers them, the only sound their heartbeats and breathing, mingling with the muted sound of several cars zooming by.

The sound of a car pulling up close to them startles the two and Deidara reluctantly pull away. Obito misses his warmth almost immediately, the cold wind a sudden stark contrast.

"My parents, yeah," Deidara whispers, turning to look over at the car. Though Obito couldn't see their faces, he could barely make out two figures seated at the front of the car.

"Should I go and say hi?" Tobi asks jokingly, though he isn't sure if he's keeping the tone light for Deidara or himself.

Deidara doesn't answer him, simply smiling a soft smile of his that seems both perfect and out of place for him and reaches out to Obito again, pressing his forehead against Tobi's shoulder for a few seconds more before pulling away.

"I'll see you, yeah," he says, grinning back at Obito. "Have fun during winter break, hm."

Obito waves his goodbye and watches as Deidara makes his way over to his parents' car, slipping inside effortlessly. He could see them talking for a bit before his father pulls out into the road.

In the brief second Deidara passes him, he waves again and sees him off.

Standing by his lonesome, Obito shoves his hands into his pockets and watches the tail lights disappear into the blur of the rest of the city lights.

Until he is sure he cannot even see the pinprick of red, he begins his walk to the train station.

88

Time moves rather slowly when he's not spending it with Deidara. Obito had been in a mad mood and terrible mindset when he and his grandparents moved to Tokyo. He was convinced that he won't meet any new friends that would be as great as Kakashi and Rin.

Well, Rin was obviously out of the question. His innocent little crush on her at the ripe age of thirteen simply made him even more upset upon learning her untimely death. After that, Obito is adamant on remaining alone and isn't completely aware of how time passes. After meeting Deidara, though, everything changed.

It feels like time moves a lot differently from what he is used to. He isn't sure what it means, but it feels like it's shifting through itself, like when you're weaving a piece of string when he's with Deidara.

Still, he doesn't want to think too hard on it. It's completely confusing and he feels like the fragile, woven fabric of time would wear through if he continues to attempt to unravel it in order to study the exact process of it happening.

He sighs, staring down at the glowing screen of his phone with what he hopes is a blank expression.

For what feels like the hundredth time, but in reality probably just the sixth, he presses into the text conversation he has with Deidara.

Of course, the contents remain the same. He could see the first message he sent Deidara last night. It had been a spur of the moment thing. After the first week had gone by for their winter holiday, Tobi had begun to feel bored at home.

Watching the snow fall outside, although flimsy at it was, he mindlessly picked up his phone and asked Deidara if he was free this weekend.

Turned out he was and he even teased if Obito was asking him out on a date.

To tease back, Tobi sent back a serious face and confirmed that he was.

Deidara took a whole ten minutes to ask where they were going.

Though Obito initially wanted to keep it a secret, leading Deidara wherever, he quickly decided that it might not be a good idea since he might have to leave a note for his parents.

So now he waits here at the metro station, leaning against one of the support poles and ignoring everyone that walks by him, not even bothering to pick up bits and pieces of their conversation.

He stares at the time displayed on his smartphone, eyebrows furrowing as he notes that he is five minutes early.

Irritated at himself, Obito shifts and presses his entire back against the cool support, eyes darting from advertisement to advertisement, eventually gazing up at the station signs hanging above.

Maybe he should have waited just a bit longer before heading out the house, even though he is completely restless and feels like he's sitting on ants if he waits around for a second longer.

His grandmother practically threw him out from the way he's pacing around the apartment.

Checking his phone again, he notes that only one minute has passed.

Obito sighs audibly and wonders if Deidara is on his way. Maybe he should text him and ask him where he is.

He shifts and moves to type the message out, but stops himself just before he could press the first button.

Maybe he shouldn't. He's acting like a clingy girlfriend who doesn't trust her boyfriend. Gah, they're not even dating!

Obito forces himself to lock his phone and shoves it into his pants, crossing his arms and hooking his fingers against the straps of his backpack and continues to wait patiently, counting out the seconds in his head.

He entertains himself by watching the people passing by. There are schoolgirls, friends, parents and their children, tourists, and staff members wandering around. They all have a purpose and are moving in their own direction, yet at the same time following the general flow.

Frowning, he turns and stares at the map of the metro opposite him instead, reading the labels even though he's already memorized it all by muscle, eyes following the exit paths and their numbers.

Something - or someone - appears beside him and before he could even react, a voice in his ear makes him jump, jolting him from his small reverie.

"Hey, hm," Deidara grins, gripping his own backpack and an additional bag of whatever he decided to bring with him on this small trip. "Sorry, did you wait too long, yeah?"

"No," Obito says quickly. It isn't a lie, since ten minutes isn't really that long, and it is his fault for heading out way too early. "I got here a few minutes ago myself."

Another not-lie.

Deidara nods and flashes him a bright grin, reminding Tobi of an explosion, and gestures to the escalator. "Let's go, then, yeah?"

"Let's," Obito nods, pushing himself away from the pole and steers himself toward the direction of the escalator. Deidara falls in step right beside him, but he allows Obito to walk forward in order to stand on the right side.

"Hey, where did you even find this festival?" Deidara asks, leaning forward and resting his chin on Tobi's shoulder now that he can do it without forcing himself to be on his tiptoes.

"I read it in an article somewhere," Obito replies. "Some news app. It's a special one unique to that village, that's why it's held in winter instead of summer."

"That's what I was going to mention next, hm," Deidara speaks, each word biting hard in an effort to ram his chin into Tobi's shoulder. Obito doesn't complain on purpose to make the other frustrated. "Must be something special if it's held in winter, yeah."

Obito scoffs, shrugging his left shoulder to get Deidara's head off when the escalator nears its end. They head toward the platform and stand in line. "It is something special because this is the first time I've ever been to one," he says. "And I think they're smarter, holding it in the winter. The fireworks would at least be at a more comfortable temperature, and the nights would be darker."

"And I guess being cold is better than being sweaty, yeah," Deidara nods.

Speaking of cold, Obito glances at Deidara and grins. "Hey, seems like you've finally grown a brain and wore a scarf out," he laughs.

"You're annoying, yeah," Deidara rolls his eyes, shoving Tobi's shoulder. "I hate you."

"Aw, you love me," Tobi coos, leaning in and resting his chin on the top of Deidara's head.

"Get the fuck off, hm!" Deidara complaints, ducking down. "I hate you so much, hmm!"

Tobi pouts, trailing close to Deidara even when the train arrives, sitting down next to him. "That hurts my feelings, senpai," he complains.

"You don't have any feelings, hm," Deidara scoffs.

His jaw drops in a false offended look, scoffing on his own. "I can't believe you just said that," he says, shaking his head. "My soul has literally shattered into a million pieces."

"You're very annoying," Deidara concludes without any heat in his voice, shaking his head humorously. "I don't even know why I like you, hm."

"You like me?" Tobi echoes, picking up something that Deidara seems to be accidentally putting down.

He jerks at his words and blinks up at him, and Tobi could hear the way his nails are digging into the fabric of his bag. "As a friend," he says quickly.

Obito laughs at the sound of his voice and nods once. "Okay, I believe you," he says in a sing-song tone. "But I feel hurt that you do not find me hot."

Deidara scoffs. "I know you find me hot, hm," he grumbles.

"Yes, I tell all of my friends that you are hot," Obito rolls his eyes.

"How far away is this town?" Deidara tries to change the subject now.

"About half a day," Obito nods, pulling out his phone to open up the photo gallery. He had looked up directions earlier and took screenshots to make their trip easier. "We have an awful lot of exchanging of lines to do."

"Fun, hm," Deidara mumbles, leaning down and resting his chin on his bag. "I hope it's worth it."

Obito knows that Deidara already thinks it's worth it. "Of course it would be worth it when you're spending your weekend with me," Obito grins.

"I'd rather stay at home and do homework, yeah," Deidara says, turning his head away from Obito's direction, but he catches the slightest upturn of his lips before his face moves away from his line of sight completely.

And it's worth it.

88

True to Obito - or more so the navigation application's - calculations, they arrived at the small town a little past noon.

Following the rickety road, Tobi leads the both of them to one of the very few hotels in the town. Deidara complains the entire way there, about how he's so tired and sleepy, even though he has slept most of the way.

Though Obito doesn't blame him since he is rather sleepy himself. Waking up at an early hour is not foreign to them, though it does not stop them from complaining when they can. Heavens know that they will no longer be able to complain when failure to wake up early in the morning means that they will not have a livelihood.

"Aren't you always the cool one between the two of us?" Tobi asks as they stand next to the counter, Deidara's forehead resting on his shoulder as he rests his eyes.

"I never said that, hm," Deidara says, his grin obvious in his voice. Sure, Obito thinks, he has never really said it out loud, but it sounds pretty damn clear that he has thought about it many times. "You said it."

"Yes, I did," Tobi nods, uttering 'thanks' to the counter-lady as she hands them their room card. "But you are acting very not cool right now."

"Bullshit, hm," Deidara says, whipping his head up and reaching for the room card in Tobi's hands, but the taller man uses his height advantage to raise it out of his grasp. It does not stop Deidara from trying, even when they are well on their way to the stairs.

"You're further proving my point, senpai," Tobi coos, pushing Deidara back firmly to unlock their door.

Deidara scoffs, crossing his arm as he waits for Obito to grab his bag and walk into the room. "I am simply very sleepy, yeah," he says defiantly.

"Okay," Obito laughs, tossing his bag onto the couch and reaching to help Deidara grab his, too. He ignores Deidara's comment on how he's trying to be a gentleman and places that on the couch as well. "Good news is that the festival is only really interesting at night. I was wondering if you'd like to sightsee the town in the meantime, or just to grab a drink at the bar, but I guess taking a six-hour nap is also an option."

Obito's words must have enticed Deidara's attention because he is no longer slouching toward the closest bed, instead of bolting over to Obito's side, eyes wide and attentive. "Bar? At this hour? You're such a player, hm," he grins, reaching into his bag to grab his comb.

He raises an eyebrow at his comment but chooses to ignore it, heading over to the counter to pour himself a glass of water instead. He is very glad that toilets are not a foreign thing in Japanese metros. "I'd prefer not to get you drunk so early," he says, sipping his water. "We can have lunch, though."

"Get drunk easily? Me?" Deidara speaks in an offended tone from inside the bathroom, trying to fix his hair even though Obito isn't sure what needs fixing. Maybe it's just to make sure there aren't any knots in that ridiculously long mop of blond hair?

"That is slander and I do not approve of it, hm," he continues, ignorant to Obito's thoughts. "I am not a lightweight."

"I think you are, senpai," Tobi chuckles, refilling his cup and heading into the bathroom to stand next to Deidara, watching him in the mirror.

Deidara narrows his eyes at him, his blue eyes darkening in a challenge. "You have no proof, yeah," he says, giving his hair a quick, lazy pony-tail tie and tossing his comb to the side of the counter. He turns suddenly and grabs Obito's glass from his hands, claiming it for his own as he drinks its contents.

Obito lets him and simply watches with indifferent eyes. "I think tonight will be proof enough," he says.

"Watch me, yeah," Deidara grins, finishing the cup with not a single droplet to spare. Obito gives him a dirty look and he replies simply by reaching up, fixing his short hair.

After Deidara seems satisfied, Obito snatches the glass back to refill it. "If you don't start mentioning about how much you love me by... hm... the fifth drink," Obito says as he sips his water once again, nodding sagely as he makes his bet. "I will consider you right and I will pay for your trip back to Tokyo."

"You're paying for this room already, hm," Deidara says, walking out of the bathroom and flopping down on the closets bed with a loud sigh, clearly already claiming it as his.

"So you don't want me to pay for your trip back to Tokyo?" he raises an eyebrow and sets the now empty glass back down after gulping the rest of the water down.

Deidara seems to think for a bit before shaking his head. "Of course I want to. Free stuff is free stuff."

Obito scoffs at his words and shakes his head, waltzing over to the edge of the bed and looks down at Deidara, who glances down at him before turning his gaze back toward the ceiling, seemingly bored. "Well, are you hungry then?" he asks when Deidara seems to have no interest in moving.

Deidara moans in complaint and rolls over on his belly, burrowing his face into the clean, fresh sheets. "I'm tired, yeah!" he mumbles into the bedding.

"There's a café here," Obito says, leaning against the wall.

"Café?" Deidara perks up, immediately rolling off the bed and standing next to Tobi, looking up slightly to gaze into his eyes. "That's where our first date happened, hm."

Obito rolls his eyes at Deidara's grin and turns to head out the door, picking up only his wallet and the room key. Deidara trails after him, quickly catching up with a sense of urgency and walking beside him.

The sunlight isn't uncomfortable on their face. It warms them up against the cold and though it does make the streets even more slippery, they manage to make it over to the other side of the street and step into the relative warmth of a dingy café.

The employees, presumably all townspeople, all scramble to greet them with enthusiasm, though they could tell that they are very understaffed. They probably only have those that live in the town work for them, which would pose an issue since the population is very limited.

"Brings back memories, hm," Deidara grins, snatching the menu from Obito's hands and glancing it over.

He rolls his eyes and crosses his arms on the table, leaning forward and wincing at the creaking sound it makes. Fearing that it would break if he continues, he leans back and watches Deidara from across the table, trying to read the menu at the same time. "Why are you so intent on expressing that we're on a date?"

Deidara narrows his eyes at him again, sliding the menu across the table and leaning on his hand. "Are you going to deny that you've asked me out, hm?" he says. "I'm very aware that I wouldn't be here if you didn't ask."

Obito chooses, wisely, to ignore what Deidara just said and busies himself with the menu, picking whatever looks good and calls for a waiter over. They get their orders down and for a while, they simply sit and stare at each other in a silent challenge.

Tobi doesn't want to admit that this _might_ sound like he's asking Deidara on a date, since it's just the two of them and far away from their home. Sounds like an escape if anyone hears it out of Obito's context.

And, well, he isn't quite sure what Deidara doesn't want to admit. Maybe it's just because he knows he's right and doesn't want Obito to get away with anything.

He doesn't know if his genuine desire to just spend time with Deidara and share something cool with him could translate to a romantic get-away, even if he did not intend for it to happen, it might seem like it no matter what he says.

Doomed with being unable to convince anyone otherwise, Obito could do nothing but just hang his head. Of course, that silent defeat has not gone unnoticed by Deidara and he simply smirks at him, glad that they have come to the same conclusion and leans back against the chair, sighing loudly.

"What are we going to do next after this, yeah?" he asks.

"I was just thinking about walking around," Obito replies, glancing up when he notices the same server hurrying over with their orders. A small meal is placed in front of them, along with their coffees.

They enjoy it in silence and listens only to the ambiance of the store. The employees are chatting and there are vague sounds coming from the kitchen, as well as other patrons muttering in hushed voices.

It is a smaller town, after all. Even with the festival going on, it seems like visitors are intent on visiting after the sun has set.

Obito finishes his meal rather quickly, eagerly downing his coffee. The hot liquid leaving a hint of bitterness on his tongue as it washes down. He sighs at the warmth and slight energy it gives him.

He did wake up rather early to ensure that they would arrive before the main events of the festival even starts.

The sun is shining brighter by the time they step back outside, sliding the flimsy wooden door shut behind them. And though the light might be a little bit painful to the eyes, there is a constant current of winter wind that keeps them from rather chilly completely under the unrelenting plummeting of the sun.

"Lead the way, carefree boy, hm," Deidara says the moment Obito comes out behind him, putting his hands on his hips.

Tobi grins and turns to his right, heading down to the main street and watching as the buildings become more and more frequent, huddled together like a den of kittens striving to keep warm. The small buildings are not as tall as the ones in Tokyo, making it a breath of fresh air to be able to see such a large patch of sky.

The sky is very blue, without a hint of cloud spoiling the canvas. He stops by a store that seems to be open, peering at the various displays that it has set up.

The owner seems to notice him idle and hurries out to greet him. Obito smiles at the man and allows him to introduce his items, paying particular interest in the fireworks that he has on display.

"It is one of the cheapest in price here," he says proudly, picking up a box of sparklers. "This is a special kind of sparkler. There are over fifty in this box and you can't get this anywhere else."

"Fifty?" Obito echoes, feeling Deidara peering over his shoulder. "Do we need that many?"

"For the festival tonight? Yes," the old man says cheerily, waving the box around. "Though, if you don't feel like playing with fire, you can always dress up. We have masks for sale, too."

He puts down the firework, which is then immediately picked up and examined by Deidara. He shakes the box a little, listening to its contents and nodding as if to confirm that there are indeed a lot of sparkler sticks inside.

At the same time, the shop owner comes back out, holding two masks. One of them in a blue mask with a simple two-circle design. It is supposed to be a silly design, but it makes Obito uncomfortable at the sight. If he squints at it, he swears the eye holes are shaped like giant commas.

Turning his gaze from the blue mask, he watches the white one in his other hand instead. He smiles at the sight, holding out his hand. The owner places it in his hand and allows him to examine it.

"Hey, senpai," Tobi says in that tone that makes Deidara irritated almost immediately. "This looks kind of like your work."

"Don't, hm," Deidara mumbles, placing down the fireworks to meander his way over to Tobi, holding his hand to make a come-hither motion with all of his fingers. "Give it."

"Hey, hey," Tobi continues, holding the mask up higher. "Could it be that your work is-"

"Stop right there, yeah!"

"A rip-off?"

Deidara sighs, his hand dropping back to his side. "Son of a bitch, hm," he whispers under his breath, glaring up at Obito. If they aren't in public, Obito is sure that he would have leaped up at him and clawed his face off. Instead, he once again settles with just slapping his arm - very hard - and snatching the mask away from him as he whines in pain.

"Ouch, senpai!" Tobi mumbles, rubbing his arm and watching Deidara with sad eyes. "That hurt!"

"Hurts more than words, hm?" Deidara's voice is laced with a venom that Obito cannot get sick of, even though it might make you feel sick.

"Aw, you know I'm just joking, Deidara," Obito says, his arm no longer in pain as he takes a step forward and wrapping his arm around Deidara's shoulder. "Forgive me, please?"

He prolongs the vowel of the last word, making Deidara click his tongue in annoyance, which only serves to be more amusing for Tobi. He turns his head away from him and huffs.

Obito pouts, letting go of Deidara's shoulder and heads over to the stand again, picking up the box of sparklers that Deidara had discarded earlier and shaking it around, causing the sticks to rattle against the ugly, yellow box. "Hey, come on," Tobi hums. "You want this, right? If I get this for you, will you forgive me? Please, senpai. We can light it by the beach at night if the festival becomes too overwhelming."

Deidara watches him for a moment, his lips pressed into a tight line. Obito watches him carefully, trying to study his expression. Eventually, Deidara jerks his head violently to the side, refusing to look at his direction anymore. But before his face is out of view from his angle, he catches the slightest hint of a smile.

He knows he is forgiven.

The store owner is eager to head over and accept Obito's money, bowing. As he calculates the change, he tries to sell Obito the mask again. Managing to not feel nauseous and keeping to keep a straight face, Obito declines the offer politely but firmly, leaving no room for any more haggling.

Nodding politely, the owner stores the box into a plastic bag, hanging it over, along with his change. Obito accepts it graciously, shoving the coins into his pant pocket as he heads over to Deidara with the plastic bag in hand, a dopey grin on his face.

"Come on, then, hm," Deidara mumbles. Obito could tell that he is trying his best not to feel giddy at the prospect of playing with sparklers. It's not really allowed in city areas and he also doubts that they're allowed to do it in beach areas.

They wander around the streets of the town, glancing at stores that are beginning to open up for the night. It is strange to see that their schedule is the complete opposite for the men in the city. Usually, they close around this time. However, a mere glance at the wooden plaques hanging above the stores tells Obito that they're not really selling anything interesting. Some were selling 'Fun Snaps' throw bangers, and though it might be fun, he doesn't really want to toss a few of those things and then end up doing something not allowed.

Thankfully, Deidara doesn't seem to notice those bright orange boxes and they continue to wander the streets.

The sky is beginning to darken quickly, the sun setting faster and casting the land into a colder temperature. People are beginning to appear from either their inns, cars or by walking over from the train station. The streets are becoming crowded, a pack of warm bodies keeping the area toasty, but the air is still brittle and dry. Obito sighs, his breath becoming steam in front of him and he is grateful for his down jacket.

Deidara sticks closer to him when the streets become a little bit overwhelming, quite similar to Tokyo yet not. There are more tourists here and it seems that most of them are used to big crowds. They push against each other and it is way more physical contact than he is used to.

Suddenly, there is a whiff of squid in the air. Obito gasps. "Senpai," Tobi says, slapping Deidara's arm repeatedly to point at the general area where he thinks the smell is coming from. "Takoyaki! I want to eat it."

Without really waiting for a reply, Tobi grabs Deidara's hand and drags him over to the stand, bouncing up and down excitedly as he glances over the snacks.

"Want some Takoyaki, little boy?" the chief at the stand calls out to him, smiling. He is preparing someone else's batch and Tobi watches him work. "They're really good. Freshly made. Perfect for this cold weather."

"How many do you want, Deidara-senpai?" Tobi asks, turning to Deidara, who's panting beside him and rubbing his arm from the force Tobi used to tug him over.

"Ugh," he grunts. He is looking at the menu. "Get the one with twenty, hm."

"O-kay," Tobi sings, reaching into his back pocket to grab his wallet. He fishes out a five hundred yen coin and hands it over, pointing at the plaque.

The chief nods and accepts the coin, handing it over to his assistant. He starts cooking a new batch of Takoyaki, pouring batter into the special pans and Tobi watches excitedly.

The squid balls themselves don't take long to grill with the heat applied to the iron molds. The chief expertly turns them over and places them into a paper container, picking up a brush and adding extra sauce onto the balls. He also picks up a bottle of mayonnaise, glancing up at Obito.

Tobi nods and the chief pours on a generous amount, drawing a zigzag line across the neatly stacked Takoyaki. He grabs two pinches of katsuobushi shavings and sprinkles them neatly, evenly distributing the shavings across the snacks. He grabs two sticks and places them at the edge of the paper box, then hands it to Tobi.

He accepts it and thanks the chief, who wishes them a good night and Deidara reaches over to grab one of the sticks, stabbing it into the closest Takoyaki and takes it out of the box.

"Careful," Tobi hums. "You're gonna drop it."

"Am not, hm," Deidara sticks his tongue out at him, blowing at the snack and raising his left hand to make a cup shape under it so that even if he drops it, he could probably scoop it back into his mouth with his hand. Better than dropping it onto the ground.

Obito picks one up himself and nibbles on it, wincing when it burns his lips. "Damn, this is hot," he says. "Be careful."

As they tentatively chow down on their snack, they both agree that the market area is too rowdy for their liking and they branch off into one of the side roads, leading to the beach where the view for the fireworks would be the best.

"I hope there's no one there," Tobi says absentmindedly. The Takoyaki are of a perfect temperature now and Obito doesn't even bother blowing on them before shoving the entire thing into his mouth. The creamy octopus filling pours into his mouth and coats his tongue, mixed with the mayonnaise and sauce perfectly.

"Why? You want to kiss me under the moonlight without anyone seeing, hm?" Deidara snickers beside him.

"You're fucking gross," Obito grunts, taking wider strides to ditch Deidara.

It doesn't work, though. Deidara remains beside him and steals more Takoyaki, way more than his share. Obito lets him and once they were all done, he spots a trash can at the edge of the path that blends into the sand and tosses the box and the sticks into it.

"Give me the sparklers, yeah," Deidara says impatiently, tugging at Obito's sleeve. He snatches the plastic bag from Obito's hand and hastily shoves the bag into his pocket, taking out a sparkler and a lighter from his pocket to light the stick.

There are strong winds blowing in from the sea but somehow, Deidara manages to light the sparkler immediately, eyes wide and glinting at the wonderful red color emitting from the end of the stick. He waves it around almost magnetically, cackling around without care of anyone else that might be on the beach.

Tobi watches his senpai's childish glee and takes a sparkler and the lighter for himself before Deidara gets too far away. He struggles to light the damn thing as Deidara continues to frolic across the beach, kicking up sand along the way.

"Why are you acting like a child?" Obito asks from where he is standing, still trying to light the sparkler, but to no avail.

Deidara turns to, what Obito presumes, give him a raised eyebrow. He stomps back over, leaving deep footprints in the sand and points his sparkler at him, causing Obito to narrow his eyes and turn his face away.

The hissing noise is a constant and under the rhythmic, loud roll of the sea, he sees the highlight of green on Deidara's face before he catches the second set of sizzling from his sparkler.

Instead of being fascinated by the sparkler, even though this is the first time he has ever lit one at the age of eighteen, he is much more content with watching the way the colors dance across Deidara's face.

Strangely, the two colors compliment each other and remind Obito of a forgotten Christmas long ago. He momentarily forgets that he is on the beach and finds himself in the middle of some forest, Deidara standing just a few paces ahead of him.

There is a village in front of them, lined with fairy lights that sparkle brightly even from afar. The lights reflect on Deidara's face and time no longer exists in his mind, only Deidara and the waltzing light.

Deidara turns and Obito is back on the beach. He follows his friend promptly, struggling a little to get a footing in the loose sand. Deidara stops at the edge of the beach, the sea barely able to tease at their toes and seaweed lines the edges.

There aren't many people here yet, perhaps all too busy with their shopping.

Obito stands a little closer to Deidara and holds his sparkler out to be next to his, watching as they near the end of their fuel and burn out.

From Deidara's expression, he could tell that he finds that beautiful. Obito turns and looks up at the moon, watching as it illuminates the clouds from behind, unlike the way the city lights them up from below.

Though pointless, Obito does find himself enjoying the scenery once and a while. The moon itself is something fascinating and Obito always feels drawn to it, like there is another purpose for its being.

Tossing the burnt out sparklers into the box, Obito asks if Deidara would like to light another one.

He simply looks at him, the area bright with moonlight, and shakes his head. There is another look of strangeness in his eyes. Obito could see the reflection of his silhouette and the moon in them, watery and light.

Deidara breaks the eye contact and turns back toward the moon, staring up at it pensively. "Isn't it beautiful, hm?"

"I thought you only thought fleeting things were beautiful," Tobi teases him for a second, though Obito grasps the atmosphere and nods once. "Yeah, it is beautiful."

"It's art, yeah," Deidara breathes.

Obito turns and watches him, still watching the moon with wide, wide eyes. "Yeah, it is," he echoes himself, reaching forward and taking Deidara's hand.

Almost immediately, Deidara looks down. He watches their hands for a moment before tightening his grip, eyebrows furrow as though deep in thought.

Obito could not even begin to understand what Deidara is thinking so deeply about.

Even with the extra layers between their hands, with the air so cold, Obito is acutely aware of the soft, solid presence of Deidara's hand in his.

There is a feeling in the air. A pause that seems to extend to the rest of the world around them. Obito wonders, for a moment, if he is dreaming.

He shivers and the moment is broken. Deidara does not look up to meet his gaze again.

They get a few more moments of relative peace before the mayor announces that the fireworks would be on display soon, and asks for visitors to head to the beach for the best view.

Once the beach becomes packed with people, they let go of each other in fear of snide comments dampening the fun mood of the outing. From far away, Obito could spot the boats that carry the fireworks. He excitedly pats Deidara's arm, pointing out at the sea and though it takes longer and a lot more effort for Deidara to spot them, he eventually does see them and nods.

They don't need to wait any longer as the mayor speaks once more, announcing the starting of the fireworks show. It reminds Obito of Disneyland. Though he has only ever been there once, he heard that there is a show every night.

It begins with a hissing sound, released from one of the boats from further away. He could see the gray trail in the sky, rocketing toward the moon. It sizzles out behind it and becomes unremarkable when the firework explodes, a million sparkling noises accompanied by bright, vibrant colors in various shapes.

As Deidara enjoys the explosions, fleeting colors that exist for no more than five seconds, Obito wonders the technicality of them. The purpose. There is not a lot of reason for these things other than purely being decoration and aesthetics.

Though, as Obito turns from the fireworks to watch Deidara's expression, he thinks that maybe the purpose for these fireworks is to entertain those who know to appreciate the beauty in life around them, whether it is fleeting or not.

The colors flicker across his face and Obito decides that perhaps he should also start slowing down and enjoying the things around him rather than focus on some impossible goal.

And when Deidara turns to him, smiling the widest he has ever seen since meeting him and would probably bet that it is the largest he has ever smiled ever, Obito thinks that it is all possible at that moment.

88

The fireworks show doesn't really last that long. It is too expensive to keep up for longer than twenty minutes and even though it is quite windy that night, it is still not good to be constantly shooting smoke trails into the air to cloud the view of the night sky.

"Hey, senpai," Tobi says as the crowd behind them dissipates. They remain where they are, lingering around for the last of the sea view and so that they would not need to push against others in order to get out. "Remember that alcohol bet?"

"I thought you'd forgotten, hm," Deidara grins, whatever magical headspace he was in just a few moments ago already gone with the sea wind, just like his view of art.

"Of course I haven't," Obito scoffs, as though he is offended that Deidara would even suggest such a thing. He gestures toward the marketplace again, still bustling with activity and would quite possibly remain so until it is five in the morning when the last bars close.

"You're on, then," Deidara nods, stomping his feet to get his legs warm, but simultaneously also getting sand everywhere.

They eventually get out of the beach and even though the streets still feel a little crowded, it is much better than before the fireworks. There are quite a few bars open, but most of them are already packed full of patrons. The two of them have to walk around quite a bit before they manage to find a place that seems relatively free, though still getting more business than it is certainly used to.

The owner spots them and excitedly announces that they have many drinks and snacks to offer for the night to fend off the cold, despite it being an open bar. Since they don't really have any other choices to choose from, Obito accepts the offer and the owner gestures for them to sit out at the counter.

He brushes the curtains away from his face and lets Deidara sit down first, even though he's not nearly tall enough to be bumping his head on the drapes. Obito finds that both hilarious and endearing, sitting down next to him.

"Five drinks, Deidara," Obito says, raising a hand up to make his point.

Deidara seems to be hesitant now, though he still holds his challenging gaze and nods firmly once. "Five drinks, hm."

Obito suppresses a grin and helps the two of them order.

The first two drinks are all fun and games. They laugh and joke about school life and the absurd amounts of school work they still have to complete before going back, though, by the time half of the third one is consumed, Obito could tell that Deidara is losing it a little.

Even with the help of the snacks, Deidara doesn't seem to be handling his alcohol well. Obito, bored, picks at the dried fish as he watches Deidara down his fifth Asahi, grunting at the taste. While Obito isn't much of a drinker himself, he doesn't seem to be as bad as Deidara, who at this point, has already forgotten about the bet.

Deidara huffs and shoves the can away, placing his head in his hands and continues to sigh as though there are many worries clouding his mind, unleashing now with the help of alcohol.

And suddenly, Obito could sense the change in the atmosphere, the thickening of the air between them as the thoughts seem to continue to cloud Deidara's mind. He wonders what it is, but he also doesn't want this chirpy mood to turn into some sort of sad scene from a movie.

He desperately searches for a conversation, alcohol hindering his ability to read Deidara's body language as efficiently as before.

"I wonder why it's not snowing," Obito idly comments, looking up at the sky to emphasize his point of the weather in hopes it would get Deidara's attention.

There is no response.

He sighs through his nose and leans on the counter once more, staring down at his can of Asahi and feels the coldness of it through his gloves.

A breeze blows through and he shivers as his back takes the majority of the wind. It is then that Deidara talks.

"Do you ever feel that we met before, hm?"

Obito doesn't know what to say to that. He does not look up from his Asahi and stares at the contents within, even though it is technically too dark for him to see anything clearly. He is aware of the conversations happening beside him, among the other patrons and the shop owner and his employees, but their words do not register and it is as though they are not speaking at all, his mind whirring to make sense of what Deidara just said.

"We get along so well," Deidara continues, turning to only lean on his left hand, blue eyes - distant - studying Obito. "It feels like we met before, almost, yeah."

Obito laughs despite himself. "I think that's normal, senpai," Tobi says. "A lot of people meet other people for the first time and get along very well. I think it's called 'hitting it off.'"

Deidara scoffs, tearing his gaze away from Obito's face and reaches for his can of Asahi, practically wrestling out of his grip. "You know what I'm talking about, hm," he grunts as he takes a sip of Obito's half-finished can. "You feel it too."

Obito decides to ignore him and pretend to not know what he's talking about, ruling these ramblings off as the alcohol spewing nonsense. "Maybe it's time to stop drinking now, senpai," he says, reaching over to grab the can from Deidara.

His friend seems to have other intentions and refuses to let go of the can. "I'm not drunk, hm," he slurs. "Déjà vu, Tobi, have you ever felt that, hm?"

"Déjà vu is often felt because you aren't actively really paying attention and once you do, your subconscious remembers while your mind does not," Obito shakes his head.

He is about to say something else before a soft snore breaks through his mind.

Deidara has fallen asleep.

Sighing, he pays for their drinks and carries him on his back, hauling his friend back to their inn. Hopefully, he doesn't say anything about this in the morning.

88

They didn't meet again after the new year. Obito is far too busy with schoolwork and he doesn't even see his phone days at a time, though Deidara rarely texts him anyway, presumably also busy with work. He remembers, from their trip, that he had mentioned his sketchbook is due for inspection, which means it will be graded.

Art students are all so busy, after all.

So when he finally receives a message from him, saying that his parents are out and he wants to hang out with him again, Obito is rather surprised. Though, since he is already free of his work, he decides to agree and heads out before the sun even sets, having agreed to walk around the city first.

There isn't really anything to see other than vendors selling their steaming hot snacks and shivering themselves to near death in the cold. Deidara is still as he is before and Obito is glad that he doesn't seem to remember his strange ramblings at the bar back in that little town. He talks about his work and about how he copied most of his style on Pinterest because all his friends are doing it too.

He also mentions how Sasori has already handed in his work and how he hates the fact that he has. Deidara says it makes him feel like he's lagging behind since Sasori is supposed to be his 'partner' when it comes to art things. Obito doesn't really understand, but he nods along anyway, agreeing when he feels like Deidara needs someone agreeing with him, and then nodding when he knows Deidara doesn't want to hear anything else.

With nothing else to do other than wandering, Obito suggests they buy snacks and head back to Deidara's place for a movie or something. Deidara agrees.

"Hey, look," Tobi says, reaching out to grab a box off the shelf. "Pocky. Did you play the Pocky Game, senpai?"

"No, hm," Deidara grunts, reaching out to grab two bags of chips to toss into Obito's basket. "It's gross. I don't like randomly kissing people, even if they're my friends."

"Wanna play?" Tobi shakes the box like he did with the sparklers.

Deidara stares at him for a long time, eyebrows slowly coming together as he frowns deeper. "No," he says firmly.

Tobi hums, staring down at the box of chocolate flavored Pocky. "Are you sure?"

"Very," Deidara says, walking away from Tobi to grab something to drink as well.

"But like, are you really sure?" Tobi continues to ask, following Deidara, still staring at the box of Pocky.

He nearly bumps into Deidara as he stops in front of the glass doors, hearing his shorter friend growl at him. "I said yes, hm," Deidara almost shouts, though keeps in mind that he's in a store and shouldn't speak too loudly.

"Senpai doesn't want to give his first kiss to me?" Tobi pouts.

Deidara sputters, letting go of the glass door too early and almost hitting his head when it closes automatically, he tosses two bottles of drinks onto the basket and begins delivering punches to Obito's chest earnestly. "Shut the fuck up, hmm!" he screams in an indoor voice, baring his teeth.

Tobi laughs and waves him away, tossing the Pocky into the basket and starts heading toward the cashier.

"Hey, we're not getting the Pocky, yeah," Deidara says with a frown.

"Just 'cuz you don't want to play the game, doesn't mean I don't get to eat it," Tobi says matter-of-factly, nodding in a way to show that what he said was extremely intelligent and smart.

Deidara scoffs behind him and lets him go.

The road back to Deidara's apartment seems shorter than before, though it might be because Deidara is practically running back, exclaiming that it is too cold even though he already stole Obito's scarf already. When he enters the house, it is a déjà vu of when Obito first stepped foot here. The heater is on full blast and it is actually relieving rather than shocking this time since the weather is much colder than before.

Deidara tosses all of his jackets and gloves onto a chair and grabs the plastic bag from Obito's hand, taking out the snacks and drinks to put on the coffee table. Obito watches as he takes off his own jackets, curious as to why Deidara decides to keep on the scarf. He places his own on Deidara's clothes and heads over to the couch, sitting down comfortably.

"What do you want to watch?" Deidara asks, flicking on Netflix.

"You have Netflix?" Obito sits up, watching as Deidara navigates through the page expertly. Even he hasn't dabbled with unblocking Netflix, mostly because he's not entirely interested in watching movies or TV shows when he could be sleeping.

"Yeah, hm," he says, sitting down. "What do you want to watch?"

"Something scary," Obito says.

"No," Deidara grunts.

"Please," Tobi whines, leaning over and resting his chin on Deidara's shoulder. "If you're scared, you can hug me."

"No," Deidara repeats himself, flicking through and eventually finding some sort of animated adventure to watch. The film isn't awfully interesting looking, yet it's not boring to the point of him being at risk to fall asleep halfway through. He just continues to lean on Deidara as the film begins, snuggling up in the guise for warmth and Deidara lets him.

More than just the warmth from the heater snakes through his body and Obito is content.

Obito startles awake in the darkened room, rolling on the sofa in discomfort when he realizes he has been sleeping in the same position for hours. He glances at the clock stationed next to the television, noting that it's around five in the morning. He groans as he sits up, twisting and turning to get the last of the kinks out of his bones.

He leans against the back of the couch and runs a hand through his hair, sighing through his nose as he tries to gather his bearings. Obito glances around the room, his memory slowly coming back to him.

He has not left Deidara's apartment. But where is Deidara? He assumes he is in his room, sleeping, so he doesn't even think to look and bother him.

Obito walks past Deidara's work area again, noticing an open cupboard. Deidara doesn't seem like a person who would leave things open like this. He heads in without inviting himself, much like he did the first time, and leans down to inspect it.

There is an art book wedged inside. Using much of his strength, he pulls the thing out and flips through the pages, thinking it to be one of Deidara's many sketchbooks that aren't for teacher's gradings.

He may be right, but the contents of the sketchbook are startling.

Obito finds himself staring at his dreams. Forests that stretch forever and people that seem to sport magical abilities. He sees a special uniform that reminds him of the one in the reflection of their train ride to the museum, a cloud design with a border. He sees symbols that he thinks are supposed to represent elements, staring at a leaf with a swirl in the middle and a stone that is separated into three pieces.

He finds himself staring at a mask with a swirl design and he is no longer kneeling on the ground of Deidara's apartment. As his mind goes through seeing the white Zetsu that sports that very same design, asking him ridiculous questions while his body leans against the cupboards, eyes blank.

His mind remembers joining and eventually controlling the Akatsuki, meeting Deidara for the first time. He isn't any older than he is now, but he looks ages more experienced and no longer tolerant of Tobi's bullshit.

He sees that even if that's the case, Deidara still finds a friend within Tobi and Obito feels guilty for not telling him the truth. He remembers enjoying Deidara's presence and being Tobi around him. He remembers.

The poignant passage of time slips through him like an unrelenting wave, washing him over into the sea of stars and cosmos that bring him into a world that he thought could not exist.

"Deidara," Obito breathes, breathless and cannot even see properly. His gaze is still hazy, mind on the sickness that he has brought onto the world as though the idea of enslaving everyone was a good idea. He remembers lying on the ground, thinking of his life, dying.

"Deidara!" he stumbles out of the workspace of Deidara's studio apartment, losing his balance for a moment and landing on his knees. His mind is on his death, passing away after doing what he thought was right. He did not think of Deidara, the only person that really gave him a sense of innocence and childhood when his was robbed from him so soon.

Guilt wells up into his throat and he forces himself to stand up, calling out to Deidara but hears no response. He searches the apartment frantically. He was just here, yet there is no sign of him. Where did he go?

He turns his gaze toward the front door, breathing heavily. It is not closed properly, but he swears he remembers closing it when he came in.

Hardening his gaze, he hurries over and yanks the door open, swinging it shut behind him as he dashes out with urgency.

Deidara is gone.

But he will not lose him for the third time.

* * *

Hey guys, Red here!

I finally updated. I rushed to finish this chapter because I'm off to the airport in less than an hour. I'm going to England for studies, so I wanted to post something before I left just in case I'm going to take yet another five months to finish it. I hope it isn't too bad since I rushed it at the end, though the ending is already written months before.

Anyway, I actually paid money to do research for this fanfic. I went to Japan and studied the area. While I didn't go to Tokyo, I went to Osaka and I realized got the metro information wrong. Most interchanging stations do not connect like like MTR does in Hong Kong. I made that mistake, but I hope you can forgive me for that.

This story is one-year-old. What? (I started writing this on September 11th, 2016.)

On another note, a friend of mine is making something called a TobiDei week. For every day of the week, you can contribute to the pairing by creating artwork, fanfiction, or whatever that you like based on one theme. The theme is different every day. If you're interested, go to tobideiweek dot tumblr dot com for more information. The themes, the exact dates, the tags and whatever else you might want to know will all be there.

Thanks for still reading this,  
-redskiez:)


	5. Re:animate

The night air is uncharacteristically cool on his heated skin, his gaze glazed over as he recalls the moments he has spent with Deidara, in this life and the last. They overlap, covering a timespan that cannot be realistic or true. But it is. It manages to defy all laws and exist within the mysterious workings of his mind, flowing endlessly within his mess of memories.

He is once again reminded that he shouldn't attempt to understand the concept of time. It folds into itself, moving through itself, bending into itself, connecting with itself in non-linear ways...

He rubs his eyes harshly to get rid of the tears with his left hand as he continues to dash out of the apartment complex, ignoring the gazes that other people throw at him for running in his school uniform.

The next time he blinks, however, he finds himself standing in the middle of a clearing.

Obito twirls around in confusion, blinking rapidly in hopes of dispelling the trick his mind is playing on him. However, he does not have such luck.

"Damn it," he mutters underneath his breath, his aggression beginning to burn him from the inside. "Am I dreaming or not?"

There is a gust of wind blowing through the clearing and it sends the grass bowing, a rippling effect coming straight at him. He slows down for a moment, taking in the scene and realizing that this is very, very real. For a second, he feels his heart rate slow and a sense of calm washes over him.

But then, it's hard to calm down completely when he suddenly realizes there's something in front of his face.

He raises a hand to see what it is, but when he does he notices immediately that he's wearing gloves. It soon dawns on him that he's not wearing his school uniform anymore.

He's wearing that strange outfit with the cloud design.

He's in his dream.

Or has he finally woken up?

He blinks in confusion at the thought, but it quickly fades from his mind when he hears a set of footsteps behind him, keenly aware of how he's extremely sensitive to the sound, considering the fact that it's stepping on the damp grass. He turns his head a fraction to catch a figure with long blonde hair walking away from him.

For a few moments, his mind remains blank. However, the blanket is soon lifted and flutters away from his thoughts, and there's only one thing that comes to mind.

 _Deidara_.

As though he is dying of thirst and that Deidara is a mighty glass of water, he begins to tread through the sea of grass, in a desperate effort of following his lifeline.

Why? Why is he so desperate?

His feet feel heavier and heavier with every step he takes and eventually, he loses sight of Deidara. He stops at the edge of the forest and tries to peer into the thickets, seeing nothing but trees. There is a more logical voice that speaks to him within his mind. It says, reasonably, that he would have a better chance of seeing him if he is up clearing, with nothing else obstructing his view, so it would be a bad idea to head inside.

But somehow, the more that voice tries to reason with him, the more he wants to enter the forest. After what feels like years of contemplating, he finally steps through into the forest and he feels as though he is extremely familiar with the environment, even though he has never seen a forest before.

He allows his legs to expertly carry him through the woods, only ever stepping in the wrong places when he focuses on where he actually is. He distracts himself by looking at the scenery, trying to peer between trunks to see if he could catch a glimpse of golden hair.

There's nothing to see but miles and miles of trees. Obito swallows the saliva that's been gathering at his mouth. He stops suddenly, even though he isn't sure why. He stops at the edge of a river, the trickling noise a constant buzz in his mind that he welcomes. At least that distracts him from the overwhelming feeling that surrounds him.

A snort sounds beside him and Obito starts, immediately turning to find Deidara standing right next to him, arms relaxed at his sides. He's wearing the same outfit he's wearing, he supposes. The same black cloak adorned with red clouds that are trimmed with white. He even has his hair tied up in a slightly impractical fashion and holds his hair tight with a headband that sports a funny logo on it.

He seems relaxed. He wonders idly how wonderful it must be to be unburdened by events that are simultaneously happening across two lifetimes.

"Deidara-" Tobi tries to say, but Deidara shushes him before he could even finish the sentence, shooting him a glare that stops him dead at his tracks, even though he isn't even walking. His jaw audibly snaps shut.

Deidara seems to be pleased with his display of obedience and gestures to the river. At first, Obito could only hear the sound of the water rushing over the pebbles, unsure what he's listening for, but as he stares at their rippling reflections, it turns into a soothing voice that hushes the flashing images in his mind.

He blinks and continues to stare, watching his orange swirled mask and tries not to feel unnerved at the dead and seemingly soulless eye-hole that provides to be the sole provider of sight for him. He wonders how he's seeing so perfectly well with just one eye, and he wonders why he's hiding his face. He wonders of many seemingly trivial things and his mind provides him with answers that he didn't even know he knew again and again.

Eventually, he forgets that he's staring at the water. He forgets that he's listening to its course and forgets that Deidara stands next to him. He's living and reliving his entire life over again. Every single mistake and achievement and pain he's made, done and experienced comes back to him. He stands, overwhelmed by everything, gaping at space.

He jumps once more when he hears Deidara speak.

"I'm not mad, you know, hm," Deidara says with a sigh, speaking slowly as he opts to stare at Tobi's reflection, rather than turning to face Obito.

"What?" Obito asks before he could even stop himself, thinking that he should know what Deidara is saying. He feels like a fake. He feels odd in his own skin and he feels too tall, too strong, too alert. Unconsciously, he picks at the thin layer of his gloves.

"For running away, yeah," Deidara clarifies after a heartbeat. Obito suspects that he hesitated because he's aware of the oddness of the question. "I just... I felt hurt."

Obito has no idea what he's talking about, unable to catch up with the conversation due to the lack of context clues, but his mind helpfully supplies him with "not like him," and "hurt because of what?"

"You're hurt because-" Obito tries to speak once more, to at least sound like he has some sense of the situation, but once again, Deidara cuts him off and refuses to let him speak.

"No," Deidara says firmly, turning his head quickly to face him. He speaks as though he already knows what Obito would say if he allows him to continue, even though Obito doesn't even know how he's going to finish that sentence. His mind seems to know that he doesn't need to worry about it. "It's not what you think, yeah."

He takes a shaky breath and speaks up once more. Obito pretends not to notice the way Deidara is clenching his fists to hide the fact that they're shaking.

"It's just that... after everything, yeah, I thought you trusted me," he sighs. "I guess you don't trust me enough to tell me immediately."

Something about that makes Obito feel slightly annoyed. He turns his head a fraction as he gets ready to speak up but once more, Deidara interrupts him.

"No, I get why you didn't, hm," Deidara says as Obito stares at him with a bored expression, wondering what he's gaining from this extremely one-sided conversation. He doesn't even need to be here if Deidara is going to have this conversation by himself. Why is he even here listening to this? Why is he here? He needs to be back in the real world, where he can find his Deidara and talk to him instead.

It feels like he's playing a video game, watching everything unfold without knowing the full background of the story because he skipped all the dialogue that led up to this cutscene.

"I can say harsh things, yeah," Deidara mutters under his breath, as though he's mocking someone, but Obito is pretty sure he's never said that before. "Just... I feel like it should be mentioned before everything, before us."

Obito blinks, hoping for a moment that he's making up the lines that are connecting all the dots. When Deidara turns and stares at him with those bright blue eyes, he realizes that he's not and he panics.

"You know?" Deidara asks, obviously hoping Tobi would say something back to him now. Obito doesn't know what to say as he continues to stare at that face. He looks like his Deidara, but he looks much more experienced and hardened, in a drastically different way than his Deidara is. He doesn't know if he likes it or not.

Then his expression shifts. His eyebrows furrow and something in his eyes change. It hardens and those bright eyes dim as they narrow, staring straight at his eye-hole - straight into his eye.

There are multiple things that Obito feels. Deidara's change in demeanor banishes the soothing effect of the sound of the river and the images are back again, a thousand voices whisper in his ear to tell him a story that he suddenly already knows. Those odd lingering glances that his Deidara gives him, the awkward pauses, the unknown expression that he sports.

The next time the Deidara in front of him speaks, he's no longer talking about the matter he's dealing with his Obito.

"You know."

Obito gasps and everything rushes past him. it feels like he's falling through the floor and his entire body jerks backward, infinitely falling and unable to stop. He keeps falling and falling and then it feels as though someone has punched him in the gut and he's lost his breath. He stumbles from his steady gait and leans against the back wall of some building.

He turns around frantically and he finds himself in a back alley. The many cracks within the spiderweb of the city that those who aren't the most friendly of characters would use to transverse the land.

There is a wretched smell in the air that catches Obito completely by surprise. He coughs and covers his mouth to defend against the offending scent, continuing down the path he isn't even aware that he is heading down. He just hopes that wherever his vision took him, it's the right place to go.

It takes him a while before he breaks free from the endless alleyway, stepping back out into the open street that sits at the back of the city, unused to the sight of people walking about.

He stands at the side for a while, unsure where he should head next. He turns this way and that, looking down the path and sensing no other form of life. Obito wonders if he has wandered down the wrong path.

The sound of water stops his thoughts in their tracks.

He turns his head toward the direction of the sound.

Even though he's in the dark, with the closest street lamp stationed on the main street behind him, he suddenly recognizes the scenery around him.

It's not pretty. Unlike what social media paints, artificial riverbanks are not as idyllic as one would think - or at least, not this one. The slope is simply a steep slab of concrete, void of any plant life, and the sidewalks at the top and bottom aren't really that well maintained. He sees a flash of gold at the bottom of rickety stairs that are embedded within the concrete slope and he begins to head toward it.

Without light, it is rather daunting to walk down stairs. Yet Obito feels as though he is invincible, filled with some sort of strength that seems to be out of this world. Unnatural. Supernatural.

The feeling dissipates as he reaches the end of the steps, when all he could see is Deidara, sitting alone by the riverbank. He approaches him slowly, keeping his footsteps light as though he is trying to get close to a startled deer. He knows that Deidara has sensed his presence - there is no one else around anyway - but he would still rather be careful.

Deidara is unpredictable and spontaneous, just like his art.

Obito supposes that you'd take on the traits of the thing you love after you spend so much time with it.

He stops by his side, watching Deidara with a soft expression on his face. Deidara hasn't moved to look up at him yet - in fact, he hasn't moved at all, simply staring down at the slow-moving water of the artificial riverbank. He clears his throat to formally announce his presence and moves to sit down next to him, uncaring of the cold concrete seeping through his thick winter pants.

They sit together for a while. Obito could feel the tension between them, so thick that he could touch it if he would reach out. He doesn't know how Deidara feels, doesn't know if Deidara even cares that he's here. He merely looks. He stares at the water and watches the lights that reflect on its surface.

"Hey."

Neither of them moves.

Obito tries to watch Deidara through the corner of his eyes. He's still staring at the fucking water.

He sighs and watches the water, trying to see what's so interesting.

There is a slight breeze in the air that ripples the water and distorts their reflections. With each ripple, Obito realizes that their reflections switch from normal to supernatural. The black of their school uniform turns into a cloak and then back again. Obito's face is covered and uncovered again.

Deidara wears a headband, and he doesn't again.

Obito grunts, and the water calms.

Deidara finally turns to him, eyes filled with an emotion that Obito does not understand.

He doesn't even know what to say, other than, "you knew."

"Yes," Deidara replies. Curt, emotionless. Or is it filled with too much emotion?

Like when you were a child, you decided to mix every single color in the box of paint that you got for Christmas or for your birthday, and ending up with just a big goop of gray. It's everything, but at the same time, it's nothing.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Why didn't _you_ tell _me_ , yeah?"

Obito blinks, then he frowns. The answer is so obvious. "Because I didn't want you to think that I was crazy! It's creepy enough that I wanted to be your friend because I saw you in my dreams."

"Exactly, hm," Deidara turns away. He sighs dramatically, running his hand through his hair and fixing his bang even though it doesn't need to be fixed. "I thought it was just my imagination, making shit up like that. Then you showed up, hm, stepped right out of my mind. It was really, really weird, yeah."

He presses his mouth into a thin line, realizing the hypocrisy of his words. Right, of course. If he had thought that Deidara would think he's crazy, then Deidara would have thought the same. Neither of them knew that the other experienced the same thing.

"Sorry," Obito tries, still watching Deidara. Even though it's obvious that he should apologize, he isn't necessarily too sure of what he's apologizing for.

Deidara doesn't say anything, staring at the water as though he's not sure if he's even real. "It's fine," he says eventually, though his reply is so quiet that Obito would have missed it if he isn't listening out for it. "I'm..."

He sighs once more, shifting his weight from one side to another as he tries to look at everything except for Obito. "I'm not mad, you know, hm," he continues to say, and Obito has an odd feeling of déjà vu. "So, sorry for running away and leaving you alone, hm."

Obito doesn't reply, staring expectantly at Deidara. He watches as Deidara bites his lip, then seemingly sags in defeat. "I just... I thought that there was something else between us, yeah. And I thought that you trusted me enough to tell me about it. I guess you didn't, hm."

He turns back to the water. This sounds awfully familiar. He doesn't know what to say because deep down, Obito does have an inkling of distrust. After everything back home, he didn't think he'd ever get close to someone again. To date, other than his grandparents, Obito thinks that Deidara is the only one who he lets to be this close to him.

Jozetsu doesn't count, of course, that dolt would follow anyone who thinks they have at least half a brain. No one can really be friends with Jozetsu with Dokuzetsu around.

As his mind begins to wander off track wildly, he recalls something that Deidara had said before. "That night, when you were drunk-"

"I was not drunk, hm!"

"When you were drunk," Obito continues as though Deidara has not said anything at all. "You mentioned this - this whole thing."

Deidara looks away, his lower lip tucked underneath his teeth. "I suppose I did, hm."

"So you decided to just ignore that you said it?"

"You didn't confirm, yeah," Deidara scoffs, "am I supposed to make a fool out of myself and pretend that you completely understood, hm?"

"I wasn't being very convincing," Obito says, turning away. He puts his hands together, squeezing them. He doesn't think he was convincing. He was lying to himself, mostly, and that was what got to him. He didn't think that Deidara would be convinced if he wasn't convinced.

"But you were very convincing in other areas," Deidara says. Obito does not like his tone. "Regardless, hm, I feel like I was inclined to believe you. The alcohol did do most of the talking, after all, yeah."

"Wasn't there an article about how alcohol makes a person more truthful?"

He thinks that Deidara is staring at him. The weight of his gaze is heavy. The air is heavy with a different kind of tension, the shift causing the hair on the back of his hair to rise and his blood to boil.

"At least I told you what I felt, hm," Deidara says. "I heard no peep from you."

"You saw me, that is enough, isn't it?"

"Not nearly, yeah."

"You're being very selfish," Obito says, though strangely he finds himself carefully speaking, his blood coursing at a steady rate. "It is your choice to reveal everything to me, and it is mine to keep some undesirables hidden."

Deidara stops talking. Obito has a feeling that this didn't originally happen. His heart stops racing and the tension in the air melts away like butter in a heated frying pan. An image flashes before his eyes and he sees Deidara walking away from him, stomping his feet on the grassy floor of the forest. A ringing sounds in his ears and he feels like Deidara had been shouting.

As it goes.

Obito reaches out and places his hand on Deidara's, feeling his trembling and his tenseness. "I'm sorry," Tobi says. "Some things aren't meant to be discussed so early on, no matter how well we click."

Deidara turns his head away a fraction and Tobi scoots in a little closer, wanting to be heard. "You're not exactly a secretive person. Anything anyone needs to know is written plain on your face. Plus, everyone at school talks about it like it's their business, too, so I think it's rather hard not to know about you."

"You didn't know about me, hm." Deidara tries to twist his hand away but Obito tightens his grip.

"I wasn't awake," Obito merely says. "After I woke up, I feel like the past eighteen years of my life I had spent in a dream. Hazy. Memories came back to me only when I questioned. It feels like everything is fabricated just so I don't lose my mind and I accepted it because it's easier that way."

"That's not how I felt," Deidara's eyebrows are furrowing and even in the dark light, he could see it.

"It's not how I feel now. I feel like I am me again, except I know who I am."

"And that is?"

"Tobi."

Deidara is laughing for some reason, shaking his head. "You're not Tobi, you're Obito."

During that sentence, Deidara finally turns to face him.

They've spent years, if not eons, with their souls weaving into each other, like string, as one.

They _are_ time.

Obito doesn't answer. He doesn't need to. Once he catches Deidara's gaze, there's nothing that needs to be said that isn't conveyed through their eye contact. He reaches up and slides a hand against his neck. He could sense Deidara shiver at the slight coldness of his hand, and before he could even complain about the feeling, Obito quickly leans forward.

He's pretty sure neither of them has kissed another person before.

The moment his lips made contact with Deidara's, it feels like he's falling again.

He's falling through space, melting once more with time. Various images flash before his eyes - and even though he's not sure, he thinks that Deidara is experiencing the same thing. At once, he's kissing the battle-hardened terrorist who used to live off of being hired to kill people, and he's also kissing the barely adult artist who enjoyed performance art and derived multiple meanings from plays that would gawp at even the slightest whisper of homosexuality.

He's kissing all of him.

They part after two lifetimes, heads still so close together they breathe the same air.

"Obito," Deidara breathes out beneath his breath and Obito feels scared. He feels trapped, forced up against the wall and he doesn't know if he should trust anyone anymore. He feels his heart tighten and release so rapidly that his chest makes him feel like he's suffocating.

"I thought you were straight, hm," Deidara mutters. Obito frowns, unsure where the question came from. Deidara seems to sense his confusion and speaks quickly to clarify himself. "Rin."

Obito's frown deepens, his eyes hardening. "How did you know about Rin?"

Deidara shrugs, "you talk in your sleep, yeah. Tried to wake you but it didn't work." Tobi accepts this.

Then Deidara huffs and turns his head and their noses make contact. Deidara squeaks and quickly moves away. "Cold, hm," he complains, and whatever Obito feels is obsolete and there's only now.

He feels a thousand years younger but filled with twice as much experience. "That's why we should head in," Tobi says, sliding his hand from Deidara's neck to his left arm, rubbing it gently. "How about we go back to your place?"

Deidara scoffs but allows himself to be pulled up by Obito and the two of them head toward the concrete stairs, leaving the riverbank behind them.

They are here for a reason. A second chance, a new beginning. It really doesn't matter as long as they have each other to lean on. Whatever path they will take will be carved by their own hands.

And this time, they'll finish their story.

* * *

Hey guys, Red here!

And so it's done.

First thing's first, this is the first multi-chaptered fanfiction that I have ever, _ever_ , finished. A continuous story that doesn't end within - or less than - 20,000 words. Something new for me, definitely. Never thought I could do it because I have a terrible habit of abandoning things that I start on a whim and then begin other things. I also cannot stay focused long enough to finish something in one sitting. I stray and stray and stray. A bad habit, for sure, but something I can't seem to shake. For me to finish this is a miracle. I am extremely proud of it, even if I will look back on this in less than ten years and cringe.

Anyway, reining myself back before I digress any further - this is a shorter chapter compared to the rest of it because it was meant to continue directly from Chapter 4, but I thought Chapter 4 was too long already so I cut it off. As I said, originally, this story was supposed to only have three chapters.

Now, about the writing style of this chapter:  
I had about two paragraphs written for it before I even finished Chapter 3. I had the rough outline and throughout the entirety of Chapter 4, I still only had two bullet points as my guide for the chapter. Since it's such a long time, I obviously have experienced different things - especially now that I'm studying purely writing.

I wrote the beginning as I would normally. When they meet at the artificial riverbank, I had adopted the style of dialogue-heavy writing. I tried to fix it by adding more description as to what they were doing, but I simply couldn't come up with much. As a lecturer said in a seminar, if the character doesn't speak to you, there is absolutely nothing you could do to make them talk. I don't see them do anything but sit and talk. This is about sitting and talking - communicating. I didn't find the need to keep mentioning that they're sitting - and talking.

As I begin to describe their actions, I kept in mind a style relating to _The New Journalism_ and _Dirty Realism_ (a sort of mix, but also not quite. I'm sure I've used plenty of adjectives and adverbs in there.) Hence why the sentences seem court and straight to the point. I did not write their actions if they are not important or if they don't add anything to the narrative. Halfway, it turned into a sketch of Obito - and Obito's sketch of Deidara.

I'm completely aware of the fact that I did not really do a good job on the whole 'you should read this closely!' but I hope you at least understand. Close text analysis isn't something everyone likes doing. I certainly don't, so I wanted to spell things out clearly to help people out, even though you are under no obligation to analysis this _fanfiction_ closely. For Pete's sake, it's a fanfiction. I'm certainly going way over my head, here.

That said, I find myself completely clueless about time and the plot of this story is probably way too fucking thick for its own good. I kept it simple, focusing the narrative on the relationship between Obito and Deidara - failing horribly at the whole 'show, don't tell' thing, instead of really giving the whole time thing an explanation. That is a conscious choice because I don't want to. It gives me a headache because I don't even know how time works.

To conclude, I won't fuck with time ever again. (Ironically, an assignment for my course has an option for me to write about how 'time does not exist.' Guess what I'm not doing?)

Thanks for sticking around for this shit-show, dear reader. You deserve a cookie, or five.

Toodles,  
-redskiez:)


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